Thanks Giving and Snow

For the last couple years, Thanksgiving has marked the beginning of winter in these woods.It's an odd little coincidence. Last year saw us driving home for Thanksgiving festivities in a sloppy snowstorm; this Thanksgiving morning we woke up to 3 inches of fresh, fluffy snow. I guess it's kind of pretty.

The lake (the part we can see at least) iced over the day before Thanksgiving. When Andy and I were driving into town on Thanksgiving morning, we realized that the lake was open for less than 28 weeks in 2013. Didn't really need that reminder that I live in the land of endless winter. Meh.

So did everyone have a good Thanksgiving?

We had a lovely, albeit it busy, few days around here. I worked on the annual community Thanksgiving dinner on both Wednesday (prep) and Thursday (actual cooking and serving) that our church puts on for anyone who doesn't feel like putting on a big Thanksgiving dinner themselves. We usually feed about 100 people each year. My contributions this year were a pumpkin and a cranberry/cherry pie. Despite my best efforts, my pumpkin pie did weep ever so slightly. Apparently the weeping happens when the filling gets overcooked and egg in the custard seizes up and starts squeezing out the filling's liquid, but I was too slow with my instant read thermometer to catch the pie before the filling passed 150 degrees. Better luck next time. And also, yes, I do have that much time on my hands to obsess over such things.

I didn't actual eat dinner at the church, but instead headed over to Andy's mom's house around 3 with a bag filled with leftovers. (Winning!). Apparently lots of people went non-traditional with their Thanksgiving "feasts" this year - we had sushi (not made from the aforementioned leftovers), my grandfather had fondue and my brother had pirogies. And no, I do not know what that is all  about.

The smoked herring is attacking!

I'm not afraid to admit that we went to bed at 9 on Thanksgiving night and that I was out like a light. It was a good day.

Did anyone brave Black Friday sales on Friday or (heaven forbid!) Thursday? For the most part I completed my Christmas shopping last weekend and am feeling incredibly on top of things and also not brokeity broke broke. (You can check out my tips for saving Christmas moola here.)  If you still need to pick up some things, remember the Cyber Monday sale going on over at Yes Sir, Yes Sir today. Get free shipping for any order with the coupon code SHIPFREE and today only, all orders over $25.00 receive a complimentary holiday ornament.