.: Madison's First Thanksgiving

We had a great, and most importantly, LONG holiday weekend! We stayed home this year and Dylan's parents came and spent Thanksgiving day with us. It was a last minute decision on our part and my family had already made the same plans they make every year and assumed we would do the same we do every year, so they couldn't make it.

It was the first time I had ever cleaned and prepared a turkey and I must be honest, I was a little afraid!! But, I braved the task and, for the most part, it was a success. :o) It was actually much easier than I expected - maybe the easiest part of the whole meal!! One thing is for sure...it takes longer to cook than you think! Dylan and I decided to use a couple of Rachel Ray's Thanksgiving recipes for the sides since we are no pros when it comes to cooking holiday meals and then I made one of Dylan's aunt's recipes that I love. We had Rachel Ray's manchego cheese mashed potatoes (good cheese that costs more than a whole turkey!) and orange scented green beans, sweet potatoes with a yummy crunchy topping (Aunt Karen's recipe), rolls and then Dylan's mom made squash casserole, which was great, and brought three pies - pumpkin, pecan and sweet potato. We had a TON of food for just the four of us, but everyone helped a lot with cooking and cleaning so it ended up being a very nice relaxing day and was nice to celebrate at our house this year.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving day and then some others from the rest of the weekend at home.