An Orphan Thanksgiving-2010

Disclaimer: I further realize that these posts are no longer in chronological order.

Thanksgiving this year was a difficult time for me because it was the first time in my life that I was not in Kemptville for Thanksgiving.

The holidays rotate houses in my family: Christmas at the Levy's or Grandpa's, Easter at the Ricottones , card tournaments at the Kemptville Muldoon's and Jake's Place and of course Thanksgiving at the Brisebois'! (note how I counted card tournaments as a holiday)

Thanksgiving usually means having about 25 people over for dinner (the clan has grown as significant others of the cousins join the group), it means bright fall colours, Adam playing fetch with Millie and Tyra for hours (literally), runs/walks in the forestry, drinks at the pub, and fall harvest theme decorating at Mom's.

This year Thanksgiving was very different...but wonderful! A friend's sister invited all of us "orphans" over to her place for a turkey feast in Kitsilano. It was a conglomerate of people: people from our program, her friends, her sister's friends, colleagues, and roommates. Everyone contributed something delicious to the menu and we feasted on a locally grown turkey that had many different familial contributions (we figured out about 5 different family turkey recipes went into this creation). We all sat around a long table and before our meal started we took turns sharing what we were thankful for. Mine went something like this, "I am thankful for my family and friends and for my new friends who make me feel not so far away from home".

Some highlights of the evening were: the punch (cranberry punch with champagne and mint), the sweet potato casserole, the turkey, and the charades game we played after dinner!

Thanks (again)to Kristen and Amy for having us over for a great time!!

Us girls (the hostess in the middle) with our punch before the rest of people arrived.

Everyone gathering around the table as they filled their plates (beautiful table setting by-the-way).

Sitting and chatting after dinner. What a feast!

Sample shot of the charades game.