Thanksgiving 2015 - Always Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This day is the one I miss home the very most every year. I love the atmosphere in the lead up to Thanksgiving, everyone is so happy and content and strangers are nicer drivers and in supermarket parking lots. And this year Boise has snow!! Anyway.

I make the most out of every holiday throughout the year, even though my colleagues and neighbours probably think I'm crazy. Whether its an office Easter egg hunt, being the only house in my neighbourhood decorated for Halloween, or having sparklers and BBQs on the 4th July (no matter how rainy it might be!) I feel like I do the very best I can to bring the things I love so much about the USA to my life in the UK.

Exhibit A - Halloween 2015

But Thanksgiving is the only one I've really struggled with. Maybe it's simply because my work doesn't just let me have the two days off we get in America to cook and celebrate, maybe its because even if they did, the people I love would still have to work so wouldn't be able to celebrate with me, maybe it's because this holiday is about family, and most of mine are far away. It's also probably because strangers in the street don't know it's Thanksgiving, so the air of love and kindness just isn't there. I think mostly it's that I haven't yet found a tradition Sarah and I can make our own - to do Thanksgiving the 'American and wife in the West Midlands' kind of way.

Sign I came home to from my girls!

So while I'm waiting, and researching, and thinking of magical things we can do each year to celebrate along with my 'Americans in America' counterparts, this year we were invited to the opening of a brand new restaurant in Birmingham, called The Stable! It'll be so fun to have a nice date night in town, and get to sample all this restaurant have to offer, to mark the occasion. We'll post all about it afterwards, so keep an eye out!

Though Thanksgiving is slightly bittersweet for the lone Idahoan of Kings Norton, it isn't lost on me just how much I am to be thankful for.

I'm most thankful this year for my Mum - she has fought pancreatic cancer this year, and after lots of chemo, a surgery at Johns Hopkins, lots of recovery time in hospital, and more chemo, she is officially in remission as of last week! Mum is truly my hero, she handled everything that came her way incredibly well, continued to be the Mum we all love and adore throughout, and never lost her sense of humour. It may not be over forever, but for now, we are all just so grateful and happy.

I'm also so thankful for my Dad, the unsung hero of the cancer fight - he kept Mum going when she was down, made sure she walked and ate to keep her strength up, treated and surprised her to keep a smile on her face, went to so many 6 hour long chemo appointments, asked all the hard questions to all the doctors, became 'Nurse Bob' when he tended to Mum's post-surgery wound, and was the unwavering support we all needed the whole way through.

My wife, who tried to shield me from hurt and heartache every step of the way - from the day I came home from work and had to Skype Dad to find out that Mum had cancer, to driving me to the airport and packing for me to go to Baltimore for Mum's surgery, for holding down the fort while I was away, being my shoulder to cry on countless times and my reminder to stay positive throughout, for always thinking of ways to make my Mum smile from sending flowers and cards to 'take a picture of this, your Mum will like it!', for always knowing when a pizza and movie night is needed, and for being my better half every day!

I'm thankful for the caring and kind people I have around me here, my mother in law for being there for us from the beginning and for giving me a good luck charm I took to Baltimore and will keep with me always, my good friends, in laws and colleagues for checking in and asking how Mum is, but also for distracting me when I needed it with adventures and memories I will keep for a lifetime.

And finally, I'm thankful for this bundle of fur - it's our first Thanksgiving with her, and I can't believe we've had her for a year! She has changed our lives so much for such a little thing, and we can't imagine life without her. I put together a little video of her best bits from her first year, check it out here!

Happy Thanksgiving from my little family to yours - I didn't expect this post to be quite as heavy as it was, but 2015 has been a hell of a roller coaster. Here's to a healthy and happy 2016!!

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.

On Being Thankful

One of my favourite things about November is the general acceptance that we will all be putting on weight this month, whether it's in the lead up to Thanksgiving, the cold and miserable comfort food-eating weather that England has bestowed upon us, or perhaps that it's almost Christmas kind of, so really there's no point in dieting now until January. But food, my friends, is not really what this post is supposed to be about.

My second favourite thing about November is mustaches. Isn't Movember amazing? It's the one thing that makes me wish I was a guy - the ability and social acceptance of mustached men. Don't worry, I can't grow one myself, though if I could, even as a woman, I'd most definitely start smoking a pipe and stroke it in the evenings before shaving and going out for the day. This post is taking a weird turn.

Right, anyway, what I'm here to talk about today is Thankfulness. I love it so much I've made it a proper noun. About 90% of the time I'm very thankful, and grateful, because I know I have a lot to be thankful for. Of course, as I'm sure most of us do, I'm sometimes a bit less than grateful - I'm part of the instant gratification generation, so I have a bad habit of always wanting 'more'. So it's nice to have a whole month to remember just how lucky we all are, am I right? 

I'm thankful for a fiancee who always makes me smile. Even when I'm trying really hard to be mad at her. Thank you Sarah, for loving my extreme holiday participation, and for going along with whatever fancy dress costume I want to put on you. For really appreciating my knack for cooking and baking, and making up for where I'm lacking in tidiness/cleanliness. For making all my bright weird and wonderful ideas happen, with a mind for details and realism, which I do love even though I call you my dream killer. It's in a loving way. Anyway, I don't know where I'd be without you, and I'm so very happy I won't have to find out for a very long time (ever, if I kick the bucket first!).

I'm thankful for my family, immediate, extended, and in-law-ed - this last year has been one of discovering for me, and being pleasantly surprised with how wonderful the people I'm related to are. Whether my parents are going completely above and beyond to help us plan and pay for the best wedding ever, or taking me on the trip of a lifetime for my 25th, or just being there to talk through my questions, concerns, and excitement about all that is going on in my life right now, I'm so grateful to have them so close, despite being so damn far away. Whether its my little brother, who is My grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, who have all been really accepting and supportive of me and love Sarah. Even my parents, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins -in law, who I never thought I'd get to properly know and love, have been just so incredible to us both over the last six months - without them, we wouldn't have our gorgeous new home! And without them letting their guard down and letting us in, Sarah especially wouldn't be nearly as happy as she is now. We're damn lucky in the family department.

And similarly, I'm thankful for our friends. They aren't many, but they are just so amazing, and we wouldn't have it any other way. We are lucky enough to know some of the most caring and supportive people in the world (we imagine). I mean, one of our best friends lives in Australia, literally the other side of the world, but we talk to her on a weekly basis. And we have people coming from all over the world to our little wedding in the back country of Idaho. There really isn't anything more humbling than that realisation!

I'm thankful for our new home, which is just completely a dream come true. From Sarah telling me (only six months ago!) it will take us 7 years to raise a deposit, to Margaret and Andy offering up the most generous loan, Sarah's sister chipping in, my parents taking the wedding pressure off, and some hardcore savings on our part.... it was made a reality. A real 'it takes a village' moment. It is just incredible that all these wonderful people trust us enough to do this for us, knowing that we will work our not-so-little bums off until we have paid back every penny. And in the meantime, get to slowly make this house our home.

I'm thankful for our ability to work, and that we are both lucky enough to be employed full time in this rocky economy. And that we both like our jobs, and they are able to help us pay back the above and still enjoy our time doing it.

One thing I'm not thankful for? People who have such a dramatic reaction to trying my homemade candied yams that they almost spit it out, in front of a good 10 people. That doesn't make me feel good. Having a sad moment.

Anyway, I brought Thanksgiving to my workplace today, with generally good results. People like cornbread, and my colleague managed to get the sandwich cafe downstairs to roast him a whole turkey. It was delicious, and very impressive. I'm so full, but must do some running around because....

Tonight we are going to our bridesmaid Alison's house for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner! I'm bringing the rest of my candied yams (which actually are delicious!) and cornbread, my favourite girl, and we'll sleep over with them tonight.

Two Thanksgiving dinners in one day - how could I ask for more?!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, please don't Black Friday shop today.