Yes, we'll be spending Thanksgiving with my parents & sisters this year! The last time we had Thanksgiving with either of our families was back in 2010, when we got married. Why, yes, that does mean we're celebrating five years of marriage next week!
Kind of crazy, really. In five years, we've moved across an ocean and back again, had two children, left the Navy, and adjusted to being civilians again. Well, I've managed to adjust. Tim never actually stopped being a civilian, so I don't think the transition was difficult for him. And I know he was happy to hand over the homemaking and child-rearing roles to me.
Anyway, next week the boys will get to see their grandparents again. And I'm looking forward to that, because Clinton adores his Gram and Grandpop. (I'm also looking forward to having a date night with my husband, since my mom offered to babysit for an evening.)
I'm also looking forward to someone else being responsible for cooking the turkey. I roasted a turkey last year, and it was kind of stressful for me. The bird was delicious, but I was terrified of under- or over-cooking it, despite having a meat thermometer that showed me exactly when it was done. And I'm not the greatest at timing, so the mashed potatoes were a little cold, then a little too hot because I put them in a casserole dish and warmed it in the oven. The cranberry sauce was awesome, as always...but that's such a simple thing to make!
In Japan, we had Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of my command, and I never had to cook a turkey. And for Christmas, we ate at the Harbor View Club our first year, ordered a cooked turkey the second year, and the third year we went to a potluck at a friend's house. That was also the year I "stole" a recipe for buffalo chicken dip from a co-worker. (It was really yummy, and I noticed the recipe in a cookbook I already owned. So it wasn't really stealing, just discovering that I could make the same dish.)
Anyway, I'm excited about the coming week. It should be fun.
