turkey! coma! snow! games! wine! friends!

There was much feasting… and on the next day, I worked, bah. The office is extremely quiet, however so I can’t really complain. It should be a fairly quick day, I have some reports to bang out and light tasks to do. I doubt the client is expecting much to get done, if they’re even HERE at all today. I’m amazed I managed to get up at all this morning. And I don’t mind heading into the office on the day after Thanksgiving, the metro was empty, streets were devoid of traffic… what I did mind was walking out into 22 freaking degree weather – JEEZ! I am so not a winter boy. Hate. This. Cold. Weather.

All the photos are here, mostly shots of us prepping, the food at various stages and some pics of the snow covered trees outside — OMGSNOW!!! On the drive up, it felt like we were in a holiday special, light flakes streaming past the cars, I didn’t think anything would actually stick but the grass and trees were definitely covered. A nice backdrop for the evening.

We had a good spread, sweet potato cheesecake, (critical mass) apple pie, sweet potato biscuits, kielbasa, mashed potatoes (my arm still hurts), stuffing, collard greens (my first time eve making them), macaroni & cheese, dolmades, corn pudding and of course turkey and gravy. Jenifer brined the turkey and oh my god it was delicious. So tender, not a dry part of meat at all. Really everything was delicious, and made more fun by the fact that we cooked it all ourselves. This is going down as one of the best Thanksgiving holidays I’ve ever spent.

We somehow managed to make it through the meal, but it was slow going, everything was delicious and we did make an awful lot of food for 4 people, but we made it without totally passing out. After a bit of time to process the food we watched some tv and Claude brought over some board games. Jenifer pwned us all in Boggle, but that’s not really my game, then we played Monopoly – which I love, even though I’m usually not all that good at it… and I won! The last time I played was with Matthew and he kicked my ass, but two player games aren’t all that easy and definitely not as fun as 4 or more. I got my orange and red property monopolies, threw some hotels down on them and cleaned up. I felt bad for Claude, he got hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk but the dice barely let anyone land on them. We played with the “Free Parking” rule and he kept landing on it, so I didn’t feel TOO bad. Jenifer and I were getting a little competitive, in a fun way (nobody LIKES to lose) and the deals going back and forth across the table were great but Claude wins for offering Michael $1000 and free rent on all his properties for the rest of the game to acquire Pennsyvania Avenue – and Michael declined!

After getting sucked into watching “Dave” – Jenifer and I packed up our things and headed home. If I didn’t have to work today we’d have probably stayed over another night but it’s the trade-off for getting Veteran’s Day off. 😛 Even so, I’m glad I’m not at home today, because then I’d be tempted to go shopping and I do NOT need to be out there, no way no how. Though I wouldn’t exactly be averse to a happy hour this evening, alcohol warms the spirit and pretends to warm the body. 😉