{"id":5653,"date":"2013-12-03T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T06:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.walkingwithcake.com\/?p=5653"},"modified":"2013-12-01T20:48:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T02:48:24","slug":"our-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.walkingwithcake.com\/?p=5653","title":{"rendered":"Our Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house again this year, and it was a really nice and relaxing day.\u00a0 My parents helped us out tremendously by watching the boys at their house from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning, which meant that Ryan and I could prepare everything with undivided attention, and our little guys got to spend some quality time with their grandparents.<\/p>\n

Just in case you aren’t sick of all the food yet, here are a few pictures from our holiday.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

(Simple Thanksgiving table.)<\/p><\/div>\n

I always serve buffet-style and our guests are scattered throughout the house, so I set a simple table in the dining room for anyone who wanted to sit there.\u00a0 I found these pretty placemats<\/a> from West Elm and ordered enough for everyone to use.\u00a0 They’ll work great through the holidays, and best of all, they are washable.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

(Thanksgiving side dishes.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ryan smoked a brisket and his mom brought some turkey breasts, so I fixed all the side dishes.\u00a0 I know it’s controversial, but I like to prepare most of my dishes the day before and reheat them Thanksgiving morning.\u00a0 This year, since I had more time and no little boys running through the kitchen, I was able to cook more on Thanksgiving morning, and everything turned out great.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

(Jalape\u00f1o bullets!)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ryan also made one of my favorite party foods, jalape\u00f1o bullets!\u00a0 They are definitely a labor of love, since every pepper must be cut, de-seeded, soaked in water to reduce the heat, stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and then grilled.\u00a0 But they are absolutely delicious and not really that hot to eat.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

(We had four different pies!)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ryan’s mom always bakes cherry, pecan, and pumpkin pies, and my sister made a delicious, gluten-free apple pie this year, too.\u00a0 I added some banana pudding to go with all the brisket, and we are still eating our way through the desserts.<\/p>\n

It was such a relaxing weekend, and we also finished our Christmas decorating, too, which I’ll show you this week.\u00a0 The rush is on for our family, since the boys have two weeks of school left, their Christmas program and class parties, and James’ fifth birthday is right after that.\u00a0 December is our busiest time of year, and I’m trying to maintain some sense of calm this year.<\/p>\n

How was your Thanksgiving?<\/p>\n

<\/div>