Thanksgiving was fun. We were up early, bundled ourselves, and then walked to Madison Market for the fresh ingredients for the salad we were to bring to dinner. The neighborhood was quiet. No one was up that early and if they were they were cleaning the house and chopping ingredients. Luckily, our favorite store was open and hot lattes were available. We hung out drinking coffee and reading newspapers. The shopping didn't take long but what the hell - no gorgonzola cheese! So we packed up the backpacks with what we had and headed to Safeway. Luckily, it was not only open but it had plenty of gorgonzola options. Once we got back home we made some lunch. I then picked arugula and a couple different lettuces from the garden to add to the store-bought greens. I quickly chopped up the ingredients with help from J. We then had time to get stuff done around the house.

We brought the salad, a cooler, and two folding chairs along to Erin and Bruce's. They had a rain shelter set up in the yard and the oil was heating. The menu would include two deep-fried turkeys. I kept my distance from the whole operation. I'm not too keen on being near boiling oil and people smoking. Besides, the clam dip and the salmon dip were inside. Everyone brought something delicious. There was cranberry salad, swiss cheese bread and pesto bread, homemade sweet potato pie and homemade pumpkin pie (by homemade I mean that Andrew picked the pumpkins from his yard that morning), both dips, regular and vegetarian stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes in coconut milk, our salad of fresh greens, pear, walnuts and gorgonzola, homemade pickles, and green bean casserole. Oy. I was stuffed on dip before we ever sat down to dinner. Before we ate, Shannon read a "grace" of sorts. It was more a political satire and pretty funny.

After dinner I went in search of the kittens. I knew this would give me an excuse to lie down on the floor which was much more comfortable than trying to sit or even stand on such a full stomach. I visited them twice and eventually they came out from under the bed. Even the smell of food on my hands wasn't enough to hold their attention for very long.
We didn't stay to play cards. I was just to full and uncomfortable. We took home our piece of pie and eventually ate it the next day.

That night we were slugs on the couch. Even big mugs of freshly brewed coffee didn't keep us awake too long.