Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving was a wonderful holiday filled with family and friends. The drive to Pensacola on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was very pleasant and traffic was surprisingly not too bad. Ede’s mother and her friend were already there and it was nice getting reacquainted. Poor James had a cold but he was sure being a brave little soldier. Wednesday night we went to church and Eden was an acolyte! She did a wonderful job but putting out the candles was a tough job especially when they were so high!

I played Cranium with Dean and the kids on Thanksgiving. Dean cooked the turkey in the Big Green Egg. It was delicious! I made a salad, dressing and gravy and Dean made the sweet potato casserole. Ede’s mother made Puncit, a Filipino dish akin to lo mein with rice noodles, pork, chicken, shrimp and vegetables. I wrote down the recipe once – I think it took two legal pages – and determined that I was never making that!! James played the piano for us. He really has a lot of talent.

Friday was the day for putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house. We tried to go to Bellingrath in Alabama to see the gardens and the lights (http://www.bellingrath.org/) but it was raining. So we went to Felix's Restaurant on Mobile bay instead (http://www.felixsfishcamp.com/). Their crab soup is to die for! And I enjoyed the crab cakes too. They were on fried green tomatoes. I had never had those before and am now addicted and make them at home… And we went to Barnes & Noble. The Pensacola store is very nice and bigger than the ones in Orlando.

Dean took me to work out every day… I would get a small – very small – breakfast and then we’d go work out. After working out we’d come back and have a delicious protein shake. YUM!! In other news along this same line, I’ve hired a personal trainer and joined a gym. Little Andrea works my TAIL off! I may have lost two pounds. I am getting stronger – I can actually lift 50 pounds AND run up and down steps!!! I’ve still got a long way to go but it’s a start.

The drive home was horrendous with the FL/FL state football gamers (GO GATORS) AND the Thanksgiving people… It took 10 hours instead of the usual 7. And I never saw an accident...