let us thank him for this food...

it's been a while for me, but i'm still kickin'! i'm getting a little bitter about the seasonal job thing again. the thought of working at ski school for another winter makes me want to throw the covers over my head, refuse to get out of bed and cry into a pint of ice cream. however, i'm able to balance out my mood with the excitement of the holidays. that's what i wanted to talk about.

the holidays. i LOVE the holidays! the magic, the lights, the movies, the music, the togetherness. it's my favorite! having a house that feels a little more like a home helps too. this year, i kicked off the holiday season by hosting a spectacular thanksgiving dinner that, get this, i made ALL BY MYSELF. yep, that's right! im pretty proud of it. turkey, dressing, green beans, mashed potatoes, the whole shebang! i have to give some credit to luke too. he helped, especially with cleaning up behind me so we didn't have a huge mess when everything was finished. all in all, it couldn't have been much better! all of the food turned out pretty well, especially considering it was a first for a few of the recipes i tried. i feel that i've completed some domestic rite of passage and that makes me happy. it was also luke's first "official" thanksgiving dinner in 12 years. he usually works and gets a plate from the restaurant there or a plate of leftovers, which he refused from me last year, but this year, he was up with me bright and early to make my coffee while i prepped the turkey. i feel very thankful that i could be a part of his first thanksgiving in a while.

thanksgiving has always been my most tolerable holiday away from my family. i think it's because i've always been a part of a large thanksgiving dinner here. when you can bring people together who would otherwise be alone on a holiday and send them away with a full stomach and a little taste of home, it makes you feel good. you feel like you've done something for someone else and that takes away some of the longing for your family. christmas is a bit harder, but that's another story. this thanksgiving was smaller, but more personal. we just had a couple of people over instead of the 20+ i've had in the past. it was nice to give and to share that same feeling of home to people i'm really close to. even though i missed my family, i feel that god richly blessed me with the people i spent thanksgiving with. it's nice to be at a point where i've narrowed down the acquaintances i used to party with to friends i share my life with. for that, i'm thankful.

i also got a good start on my christmas shopping :) we don't really have black friday here, but i participated online and that'll do for now. it's also luke's first "real" christmas in a while so i'm going a little overboard. i'm turning him into santa too. i don't care what he says, he's just as excited as i am and why shouldn't he be...

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

oh and here are a couple of the hit recipes i used on thanksgiving. they're easy and delicious!

lemon garlic green beans

mac and cheese

that mac and cheese isn't easy on your waistline, but boy was it good! my friends asked if they could come over for leftovers for 3 days after thanskgiving. i used 6 slices of turkey bacon instead of ham. that probably brought the calorie count per serving down to 955 from 1055. :)

ENJOY!