Thanksgiving Day

We have gotten a bit behind on our blogging of late, but we will try to do better. Yesterday of course was a great day of feeling and giving thanks to God. We had originally planned to take off and spend some time hiking around the redwoods, but changed our plans as we pondered our blessings and decided instead to spend our time trying to bless the lives of others as a manifestation of our gratitude. It is working out just fine.

One of the things we did was spend some time with family on this truly family-oriented day. We spent the morning preparing a sumptious little repast for mom, Steve, James & Sabrina. But in the process of making those preparations, we spent some really great time with each of our favorite people through the magic of webcamming (except for Peter & Leigh-Ann, who we spoke to later in the day). What a joy it was to both see and talk to our family in Boston, Indianapolis, and Boise. Definitely the highlight of the day.

Although we neglected to bring out the camera once the people showed up, we did get a couple of shots of the preparations, shown below. The meal turned out great, thanks to Joanne's hard work, the yam dishes from mom, and the pies (see below). After dinner we sat around and looked at the picture on Joanne's laptop. They presented quite an entertaining time as there are some from a wide variety of times and places - and people. James & I went out and played horseshoes, which turned out quite well as for the most of the time I was winning. However, his ringer late in the game put him up when it counted. We had fun.

Here are a couple of photos of the table and place settings. We used the good china, etc., which went well with the food.
You all know I love to bake. But I have never baked a pie before. Well, I decided to go for it this year and made a Chocolate Pecan Pie (see the Ottley Family recipe book, 2008). It turned out fabulously, if I do say so myself (although I am endebted to Joanne for the crust - I didn't quite have the nerve to do that). Not at all like those Scottish Shortbread cookies I made (but figured out what I did wrong, and can't wait to try again). Obviously, this pie is super simple to make and really does taste good. Next time I think I will put in more pecans and fewer chocolate chips, however.