thanksgiving 2014.

Thanksgiving felt so effortless this year. I can't remember the last Thanksgiving that I spent at home - maybe when I was a kid?  There's just something really nice about not living out of your suitcase on a major holiday and spending time in your own house. The last few years we've alternated between spending the holiday with my family and Chris's family - here's a quick stroll down memory lane:

Thanksgiving 2010
Thanksgiving 2011
Thanksgiving 2012
Thanksgiving 2013

So much good food and fun, and so many people that we love! This year, it just so happened that we were without travel plans, so we decided to do a big Thanksgiving dinner here. When I say "effortless", let's qualify with the fact that I did do all of the deal searching, couponing, shopping, and cleaning. My husband is the chef who pulls out all of the stops to put a delicious dinner on the table! It's a good balance and I have to say, he makes it look (and taste) so good!

Naturally he pays (not so) subtle tribute to his cooking muse, Alton Brown, and dons an apron from a job that seems like it was a lifetime ago. After carving his beautiful turkey masterpiece, we struggled it out for the wishbone ... and I won!

After stuffing ourselves and spending time with my family, I had the wild but fleeting idea that I would do some Black Friday shopping. I later opted for some online shopping instead, but Nate was very serious about flipping through those deals!

While I unfortunately did not take part of the thirty days of thanks challenge this year because, quite frankly, the month got away from me, I really enjoyed having a low key day that was still full of great food and family, but ended with a wonderful night of sleep in my own bed. It was a great time to reflect on everything in my life that I've been blessed with and I am so humbly thankful for the people who I get to share my life with! Here's my list from last year's thirty days of thanks challenge and a mini-challenge that I did a few months ago. Crazy, happy, blessed.