I cook Thanksgiving dinner at our house every year. Love it! I love preparing the whole thing and even love preparing it for lots of people! It's such a fun and wonderful thing to have all of those great smells of cooking in my home with lots of friends and family around to share it all. Each year, I begin planning my menu sometime in mid-October and usually have it finalized by the end of October. When I say finalized, I know how many I am cooking for what ingredients I need to buy and even have my shopping list prepared.
Such was the case last year. . .and then we found out we would be leaving the U. S. on November 20th and then spending November 22nd (Thanksgiving Day!) meeting our son for the first time. Cancel the plans! So, after our exciting time at the orphanage meeting Aidan, we asked to be taken for a traditional Russian meal for our Thanksgiving dinner. While everyone was back home preparing their birds for the oven, we sat down to Russian fare extroidinaire! Instead of roasted turkey with dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and a host of other delectible items, Serge (our driver) and Yelena (our facilitator) ordered us some bread; a cheese tray (several different cheeses); a veggie tray; a Meat tray which consisted of pork, chicken and beff tongue (I kid you not!); Fish tray of raw and smoked tuna, sturgeon and some other kind of fish; caviar on quails eggs (which I fell in love with!); latkes; and a broth like soup with wontons filled with a mix of pork and beef. All in all, it was fun, exciting and with the exception of some of the raw fishes and the beef tongue, not too bad! It will always be a very memorable day for us. . .
This year, I had our menu, etc. all planned out as per usual when I got a surprising email from Lori Jerger saying they were planning on begin up this way the week of Thanksgiving, what were we doing??? Well, we're now adding the six Jergers to our plans and increasing the amount of food. . .I can't wait! We are going to have so much fun seeing everyone and getting the kids back together! After spending a month with people in a strange and foriegn country, you can't help but become family. . .And Aidan and Ellie--having come from the same place . . .I can't wait for the pictures and the tours around D. C. and Northern Virginia!
And now for a few pictures from this weekend:
The first one he was a really good boy while mama and daddy did some shopping so he got to ride the "carosel" ride at the Outlet Mall.
The second one is Aidan all dressed and ready for church--isn't he adorable???
And the third one is funny: I was cleaning a couple of cabinets out in the kitchen and Aidan was playing. . .then I hear the dogs come up behind me and make a huffing noise. So, I went to see what Aidan was doing: and here he is! Salt glazed antique pot upside down so he can step on it and reach the antique horse and buggy toy I have UP on a ledge! Little stinker! : )
Stay tuned for more pictures soon of Grandma's birthday party!
1 comment:
He is really growing up. His face is changing from a baby to a little boy. Amazing! Wish we could have Thanksgiving together!
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