This year's Thanksgiving was wonderful. Micah and I both got to sleep in a little bit. When we woke up, we just lounged around the house for a little bit and then around noon I started cooking. This year I made Mountain Dew apple dumplings (again), strawberry banana pie, sweet potato casserole, and Martha Stewart's baked macaroni and cheese.
Now every year around the holidays, you always hear horror stories on the news of people blowing up their houses because they don't know how to use a deep fryer or people getting hurt while they are cooking their holiday feasts. Here is mine for 2011. In the midst of grating the cheese for the macaroni, I somehow grated my finger (OUCH). The funny thing about it was, a few minutes before that happened I thought to myself "Hmm, that would really suck if I got my finger instead of the cheese." Obviously, I didn't knock on wood because sure enough I grated my finger. Nothing serious though, just a little nick- but boy did it hurt! Not only did I "grate" my finger, I also burned my hand in a couple of spots while pulling things out of the oven. Again, nothing serious. I know I could have been injured a lot worse if I hadn't been paying attention. I think my injuries were just results of my clumsiness (everyone should know by now that I am accident prone). I'm thankful that nothing worse happened!
Around 4 o'clock, we headed across the street with all of our food to Esther and Mark's house. Esther made two 10 lb turkeys, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. All in all we had quite the smorgasbord of things to eat. We sat down around her dining room table around 4:30, stated what we were thankful for, and stuffed our faces.
My Thanksgiving Dinner: stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, turkey, sweet potato casserole, a dinner roll, green bean casserole, and baked macaroni and cheese.
After dinner we just hung out and watched movies. Usually on Thanksgiving I would be watching football but on Guam, football games are aired in the morning and since we are a day ahead of the mainland, the thanksgiving games hadn't even been played yet.
This year I was thankful for my wonderful husband, my loving family and friends (both near and far), my dogs: Snickers and Buster; the good times I've had so far and the good times yet to come.
On Friday, instead of waking up at 3 am to wait in line at the exchange for Black Friday, Micah and I took full advantage of another day off and slept in (again). When we woke up, we went to the visitor center to pick up the passes for my mom and sister so they can get on and off base when they come to visit in December. Then we went to the home gallery (the furniture store) on base to see what kind of deals they had on bedroom furniture. We ended up getting a queen mattress and box spring set for only $350! It was originally priced at $799 but since it was Black Friday it was on sale. What a steal!
Now that Thanksgiving has passed it is time to start decorating for Christmas. I have about half of my shopping done so far.
Buster in his Santa hat. He's excited about Christmas but not so much the silly hat I made him wear.
My mother-in-law recently asked if I was tired of living "the island life". To be honest, I kind of am. I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVE the beach, 80+ degree weather year round, palm trees, and the fact that I get to wear shorts and flip flops every day. However, I am a city girl at heart (well, suburban girl to be 100% correct). I miss the big buildings, express ways, being able to drive more than 40 miles without seeing the same thing twice, and even the snow. Okay, maybe not the snow, but I definitely miss the different seasons. If I could, I would take the city (and Downers Grove), move it to this island and I would make it so that there would be Spring and Fall. Guam is only about 212 square miles (about 30 miles long and 8 or so miles wide) so it's a lot smaller than what I am used to. I'm not complaining, though, I do love my life here. I just wish it was a little bit more like home. We don't even have a Starbucks!
Until the next post,
Donna
Donna - It sounds like you guys had a great turkey day! Glad that you have made such good friends there...its one of the best perks of the military life - you will forever have friends all over the world. To be honest with you, Downers Grove misses you too! Its just not been the same since you guys left. I know that you will have a wonderful Christmas with your mom and sister...as long as Buster gets off their bed! Miss you so much...Mom S.
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