I would say that Hubby and I had a near perfect first Thanksgiving together, especially considering that even up until the night before I was not feeling super excited about it. We made the choice to stay at home and begin forging our own traditions together, and it ended up being lovely.

We slept in and had a pajama morning, which is one of my favorite things to do. We watched some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and poked fun at it. We Skyped with his parents and grandmother in Maryland. We chatted with my parents on the phone. After awhile, we went for a walk in the neighborhood on which I collected leaves and things for a centerpiece, which I think turned out quite well!

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It was REALLY windy while we were walking and unseasonably warm, which turned into a yucky, blustery day and evening, so I'm glad we got out when we did!

We had a small lunch and spent a quiet afternoon reading together before I commenced Operation Cook My First Ham.

See ham:
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See ham get glazed:
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It turned out absolutely delicious. The glaze was from my Fannie Farmer cookbook: brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and dry mustard powder. Nomz. Hubby did a much better job carving it than I would have, although the bone proved a bit tricky to get around! Next time, though, we will be experts.

Here's everything else ready to go:

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We had stuffing (Pepperidge Farm, my family's secret recipe), smashed potatoes, and broccoli with olive oil and garlic. Nothing super fancy, but everything tasty.

Here we are ready to enjoy our spread:

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We could have fed about 5 more people with all the food we had. But luckily, my parents are coming to visit this weekend, so they can help us eat the leftovers! Plus, a hunk of ham is frozen away to use for a get-together we're having next week. I think it was well worth the cost and the moderate stress of having inadvertently bought an uncooked ham...whoops.

But all's well that ends well! And here's how we ended our evening:

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Pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing, which we accompanied with raspberry wine and a movie. Doesn't get much better than that!


Laura Lindeman

Laura Lindeman