About 16 years ago when Veronica and I were roommates in South Pasadena and she and Jonas had just started dating, we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment, had my parents over, along with our other roomie and boyfriend, Lisa and Rik, and had a fantastic and very memorable holiday dinner.  
 
...and who would have ever thought, all these years later, I'd finally be celebrating Thanksgiving with Veronica and her family?!  Pretty crazy this trip called life.
 
Jonas started out the day with the breakfast of champions; a glass of red wine and a banana!
 

 
The group had already started on preparations, using an extra table in the living room to place the many dishes being started on.
 

 
Jonas made sure we all had a healthy breakfast of red wine.
 

 
It was such a beautiful day outside and since sunlight here was limited, I took a quick tour of the gorgeous balcony that ran all the way around the house.
 

 

 
The other table in the house was dedicated space for all of the recipes.  We had a LOT of work ahead of us!


 
Keith had us all chopping and cutting and prepping and Veronica and I kept escaping once in a while to document the day.
 

 
Jonas is so cheerful sometimes it scares me.  He kept us laughing most the day.
 

 
Veronica showed me her very hip reading glasses and displayed them in actual use...
 

 
Here's dinner...
 

 
...and the more frantic preparations begin...
 

 
Veronica had invited a few other friends, some of whom were vegetarian and we were trying desperately to remind Keith to keep bacon out of at least a couple of dishes.  The kids took over the living room while we continued to put everything together.
 

 

 
We had to commandeer most of the chairs in the house to fit everyone around the table but then again, isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?!
 

 
Almost ready...
 

 

Doesn't Keith know that a watched pot never boils?!
 

 
Max, the other dog of the house, put on his Indian outfit for the occasion...
 

 
Finally, the bird was DONE!
 

 
It was time to put out all the different dishes and sit down at the table.
 

 

There was some great irony in the fact the vegetarians chose to sit in front of the turkey!
 

 
We had quite the spread!  Besides the turkey we had made some amazing stuffing with panettone, sausage, herbs and rum soaked cherries.  The other dishes on the table were creamed corn, yams with marshmallows, green bean casserole, green onion and cheddar spoonbread, the ultimate potato gratin, herb-roasted onions, radish cream cheese spread / dip with parsley, scallions and feta were just a few of the mouth-watering creations.
 

 

 
Finally, FINALLY, it was time to come to the table, load up a dish and eat!
 

 
Jonas gave a nice speech with a little joke at the beginning...
 

 
...and Veronica asked that we go around the table and ask what everyone was thankful for.  We were a very international group, some Germans, Swedish, Americans, all together to celebrate a holiday that comes down to being thankful for what you have.  As they went around the room, I was feeling pretty sappy about being there, missing my family, appreciating Keith and our life in Italy, being with Veronica again and how important her friendship has always been to be and knowing if I said it out loud I'd probably lose it.  Funny enough when it was Veronica's turn she said it so much better than I could have exactly what I was feeling about being reunited again, which made both of us get quite "preclumpt" in front of the whole group. There is really no way to describe the feeling of reciprocation from a friend except to say it is really a wonderful thing.  Back at you, girlfriend.
 
Dinner was a HUGE success and SO amazingly good.  Great job to all of us involved!
 

 

 

 
It was such a great Thanksgiving and so enjoyable to share it with old and new friends.  Even the pumpkin pies, which no one had room for but still ate, were really good.
 
We cleaned up a little after everyone left although Jonas kept insisting that we not touch anything.  Heffa was completely sacked out on the floor, dead asleep, after all the excitement.
 

 
 We stayed up late, enjoying our turkey high and each other.  What a great day/meal/night!
 

 

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!