Thanksgiving 2010

This Thanksgiving has probably been my favorite Thanksgiving thus far in my 25 years of having Thanksgivings. We started out the day with a bang by running the Columbus 5 mile Turkey Trot. It was awesome. It was pouring rain when we left the house, but by the time we started the race, it was perfect running weather (misty and 55 degrees). In addition to the great weather, it was probably the most sentimental race I've ever run. It was basically a race passing every important landmark of our first 2 years living in Columbus. It started at the Shops on Lane Avenue where I would go and walk around when I was past the bed-ridden stage, but not feeling like I could really do anything that required much stage of pregnancy with Will. I'd go and walk around Bed Bath and Beyond and Pier One Imports waiting for Cortney to get out of class and wondering how I was ever going to last 4 more months of pregnancy. We ran past Tai's Asian Bistro, Pho's and Tommy's Pizza (all school food favorites when we had $10 burning a hole in our pocket). Past Fred Beekman Park (where I walked literally probably 100 miles while I was pregnant, and at least that many after I had Will, and it's still Cort's favorite place to run) where we played and watched tons of softball games. Past our apartment (still so close to our hearts). Past and around the football stadium (the Columbus Ohio Temple for non-LDS Columbus-ites). Past the Fisher College of Business (where we made eternal friendships, worked really really hard, and spent countless hours). Past the 7-11 where I'd get Slurpee's when my tummy could handle them. Past the Schott where we saw Michael McDonald and Bruce Springsteen, OSU basketball and hockey games. And then back up Lane (the namesake of Duke) to the Shops on Lane Avenue. It was the perfect race and we will definitely be doing it every year from now on.

Will also got to race and ran the Tot 100 yard Dash and loved it. We prepped him a little and made him watch the first kid race, so he knew what to do and he ran that race like a champ. Cortney ran with him and the pictures I have of those 2 running that race together have got to be in my top 10 all-time favorite pictures (to be posted later).

We went home and showered, took some power naps and went to work on dinner. After 3 thanksgivings being invited over to other's homes while we were students, we decided it was our turn to host some students and it was a blast. We had the Carters, Glenns, and Gochnours over and we had the best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had. The menu included:

Brined herb roasted turkey (we'll be doing it this way from now on. SO juicy)
mashed potatoes
maple roasted sweet potatoes
candied sweet potatoes
green salad with pecans, feta, and cranberries
homemade cranberry sauce
orange rolls
homemade mac and cheese
stuffing
green beans with bacon vinaigrette (yum, yum, yum)
spinach dip
stuffed mushrooms

and dessert was the perfect combination:
banana creme pie
pumpkin cobbler
chocolate peanut butter pie

the best part was none of the desserts had traditional pie crusts (probably the only thing I can think of that I really don't like eating), so it really was the perfect dinner. We split everything up so no one was overwhelmed and we had a feast to show for it.

I have not had Thanksgiving with family members for 4 years and actually when I think of Thanksgiving now, I actually think of it as a "friends" holiday. Maybe that's just because it's been that way for the last few years. But either way, we laughed, ate, laughed and ate some more. It was a perfect day.