The perfect Thanksgiving Day…..

This year we enjoyed a Thanksgiving Day that was as close to perfect as I have ever remembered.

It started REALLY early in the morning as our daughter drove all night from Chicago and arrived at the house at 4:15am.  She and her dog wandered upstairs, into the bedroom and re-emerged about 4 hours later.

Our son, Brian and his wife, Amber, arrived about noon and we started the eating ritual…..Mimosas, Humus, and Vegies with Dip comprised the first course.

Then came a favorite Arnold family tradition…. the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.  This year was especially exciting because our new house has vaulted ceilings in the den and secondly, we wanted a smaller one to go on our covered deck. 

We decided that we would cut the smaller tree so everyone headed out in different directions looking for the perfect tree and it was soon found (note the sunglasses on the top….our way of remembering which one we liked best). 

This is Amber’s picture of our division of duty…..Michael, Brian and Jenny do the work and I take photos…..

They started carrying the tree back to the truck and just seconds after this shot, Jenny dropped her end because she was being bitten by fire ants!!!!

We have had a long standing tradition that we would take a photo with Michael and the kids each year.  They have changed over the past 15 years!!……

We handed the camera to Michael’s Mama and, after a few minutes of instructions, got her to take a photo of the family. 

Now for the second tree.  As I said, we have a vaulted ceiling and I knew that we were going to buy a taller tree, but I had no idea that this was the size that my family was thinking about…..

We lashed them into the truck and home we went with our two beautiful trees (Amber’s photo)…..

I think it got taller after they got it home…….

…..but they were able to wrestle it into the house……

….and everyone was right, it looks great!!!!

I love this photo of Jenny as I think that you can feel her excitement.  Of course she reminded me that she would NOT be the one decorating it!!….

Now for the rest of the day…. no one in the Arnold family really likes turkey, so last year we decided that there was no reason for us to eat it every year just because it was the tradition. 

SO, this year we started the meal with a spicy tomato soup, served with a dollop of whipped cream mixed with chopped Rosemary and Lemon zest….

Second course was a Spinach, Cranberry and Goat Cheese salad……

We all then left the table for about an hour while the vegetables cooked and Michael prepared to grill the steaks……

Here we all are at the table……

As you can see, we have MUCH to be thankful for!!!!