Third Annual Thanksmas 2013 - Housewarming Edition

Thanksmas was this past Saturday, and as you'll know if you've followed us for awhile, it's one of our very favourite days of the year. 2013 was no different, and was extra special because it was the first time our friends had seen our amazing new home!

Friday night we put up our Christmas tree together, finished some painting, decorated the rest of the house, in time for the madness to begin Saturday morning! We'd set our alarms for 8:30, but in typical excited us fashion, woke up just after 7am. We started on recipes, made breakfast, and took the delivery of our dining room table (just in the nick of time!).

Preparation was so fun - we listened to Christmas tunes, I was in the kitchen figuring out how work our brand new oven, and Sarah was putting together the table and a shelving unit, and then we snuck out for a cheeky lunch break.

Our little niece, Willow, helped too!

Sarah continued decorating while I made cornbread, baked mac n' cheese, and we both worked on the candied yams before our first guests announced their imminent arrival.

I dressed and put in Reginald to cook (the turkey!), and we picked up our friends Alison & Dave from the train station about 4pm. Ali helped me finish cooking, Dave hung photos for us, and we got dressed in our festive gear just in time for everyone to start arriving!

Obligatory with-turkey photo

Our friends all arrived on time, in their most festive gear (and bearing some lovely housewarming gifts!) and after a tour of our home, sat down with their drinks to eat. All the classics from last year made an appearance - stuffing, green bean casserole, candied yams, Sarah's famous roast potatoes, cornbread, turkey (of course), and this year I added a new dish to the mix - macaroni and cheese! Made with spinach (due to accidentally picking up a can with my beans), it was absolutely delicious, and I'll definitely add it to the repertoire!

After dinner, we chatted, drank and laughed - towards the end of the meal is my absolute favourite part of the day, just sitting back and watching our loved ones all get along together just makes me so happy. We had homemade pumpkin pie, which is just unparalleled from others we've tried. Everyone loved it, but luckily there were three slices left - Sarah quickly swiped the tray away, so we could eat them during the week.

We played Apples to Apples, which is now a Thanksmas tradition - the newb, Dave, won! It's the only game I've ever played where I enjoy it so much that I don't mind if I don't win - which is good, because I hardly ever do!

We closed out the night with mulled wine, turkey sandwiches, and Christmas music until 2am. This year, most of our guests were staying with us, which brought a new element to Thanksmas - the morning after!

Each couple was on their own airbed, in their own room, and in the morning I made McLaura's (my famous breakfast sandwiches!) for everyone - and 'Thanksmas special' ones for Sarah, Dave and me, which added in turkey, stuffing and gravy!

We then said goodbye to everyone except Alison and Dave, who we took for a walk around our estate. They were so impressed with the space we have out here! We drove them into town to go to the Christmas market, then headed home for a much needed snuggle.

A local branch decided it liked my hat so much, it'd take it clean off my head!

Thanksmas is truly one of my favourite days of the year, and it's just getting better with age - our friend Pete has been attended every year, and now I feel as if we have a good group of friends who we love to cook for and host.