Thanksgiving visuals

Since we didn't host Thanksgiving dinner this year, or the cleaning and entertaining hullaballoo that goes with it, I was free to grab a few shots on the big day.

My mother-in-law working her hostessing magic. Yes, those are three stacked pies, next to another pie and a cake. Altogether, there were at least nine different desserts, including bar cookies, a red velvet cake, and a 7-Up cake (so light and tasty).

Mac and cheese and green bean casserole.

Clockwise: hot croissants in the bowl, roast turkey, baked turkey, J.'s salmon, more mac and cheese, and ham. No deep fried turkey this year. :-( My arteries will probably thank me later.

A beautiful table for the grown folks.

The kids table with Ava in the back with two of her more than a dozen cousins who came.

Jones family: poorly cropped, but happy, healthy, and thankful in 2010.

Post-Thanksgiving thanks

Thanksgiving itself was fairly low-key since we didn't host this year. J. did do his usual bang-up job of cooking several salmon fillets to accompany the turkeys, ham, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, stuffing, yams, potatoes, and copious desserts his mom provided. It was a lot of food but still scaled back from previous years, mainly due to my mother-in-law realizing that doling out or storing the leftovers was becoming as much of a chore as cooking it all.

So this year, the word of the day was moderation. For the first time in many years, my eyes were not bigger than my stomach and I did not over-indulge. It made for a much more enjoyable evening to not have to lay on the couch moaning with a Pepto-Bismal-stained upper lip. I simply had two plates of small samples of everything I wanted and didn't eat any dessert since I was already full. Then I packed leftovers and the desserts to take home for the next day.

My parents and I made the rounds to different relatives, so I didn't see them on the actual day. But I did see my mom's brother and sister and my cousin, as well as my husband's family, where Ava and Dylan spent hours playing with a passel of cousins, leaving them giggly and worn out by the end of the night.

Altogether, despite the cold snap we are recovering from, it was a lovely day. So I am thankful for moderation and health for myself, for family and friends, for a happy, healthy husband and kids, for a job, especially one that I enjoy and that allows us to have food in our stomachs, clothes on our back, and a roof over our heads. Which is what I give thanks for every night.

I am well-educated, self-sufficient, healthy, and I live in a developed country, so there are innumerable things for which I'm thankful and I often preface some minor annoyance with "Caution: first world whine ahead..." to make clear that I know I've got a lot working in my favor when I wake up every day (waking up: something else to be thankful for!).

But I will be striving in the coming weeks to keep that 'attitude of gratitude' as some say, as we head into the next year.