Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Colorado


It snowed just enough so that the visiting Californians got a little taste of the season, but they didn't have to shovel the sidewalk or get their feet wet.

Meanwhile, everyone got re-acquainted with a certain little 21-month old boy named Alex.

Alex really took a shine to Uncle Eric. They ran all over the back yard together!

Alex and Grandpa Gene also seemed to share a special connection, perhaps their shared love of biiiiig trucks?

Over the last few years we have adopted a new family tradition of making cranberry sauce the night before Thanksgiving. We use 2-3 apples, 2-3 oranges, and 2 bags of cranberries. We run them all through an old meat grinder we picked up at a barn sale just after Dana moved to Colorado. It takes about an hour and is a great bonding experience! Plus it beats the heck out of those gross cans of cranberry jello you find at the grocery store, that make the disgusting "schloop!" sound when the red loaf oozes out of the can.

I believe this is one of two major food-related traditions we adopted from Dana's father Michael -- the other one being Michael's now famous (infamous?), heavenly, creamy egg nog recipe.

Long story short, homemade cranberry sauce = MUCH better:

Here Grandpa Gene and Grandma Carla try their hand.

And Gene and Dana have a whirl

In fact we have a somewhat ill-enforced rule that only those who actually help make the cranberry sauce may partake of it. So far it has never actually been called, but you can bet that yours truly takes no chances and is sure to take several turns at the meat grinder!

Alex had a ball at Thanksgiving dinner. In addition to his Aunt and Uncle and 2 sets of grandmas and grandpas (whom he consistently referred to as "Grandma and grandma"), we enjoyed the presence of our dear friends Tyr and Mandy. The couple had planned to spend Thanksgiving in Las Vegas, but Tyr suffered a minor stress fracture of his foot that forced them to revise their travel plans -- much to our great delight! (other than the bum foot, of course)

Here Alex hops up and down on Ali's lap

Most of our dinner guests - (clockwise from left) Ali, Eric, Tyr, Mandy, Carla, Alex, part of Gene, Herb, Susan and Dana (I am taking the picture)

The only major mishap was a seriously backed up kitchen sink drain. As my grandmother observed, "Messes under the sink always happen when you have company" Tyr and I ventured down to the deepest, darkest, dankest recesses of the basement to open the cleanout and clear it of the stoppage, while Eric kept a close watch on the turkey fryer.

Oh, we fried a 15.3 lb turkey again this year. This time we used cottonseed oil, as it was massivly cheaper than any other oil. Tasted fine - nothing outstanding, but it was certainly respectable, I think.

Here Alex brushes his teeth, standing on his potty / stepstool.

This video may be my all-time favorite Alex video ever. Each night when it's time to go to bed, we have a simple ritual. We walk through the house and say "good night" to all the things we pass on our way upstairs to Alex's bedroom. It gets me every single time Alex says "bye bye" to each item. Most of the video is dark - our camera can't handle low-light very well - but the audio is the important part anyway.

Here's a short video clip of Alex at Thanksgiving dinner. He was having fun getting everyone to clap for him. He is a "ham" for the crowd!