Wew, the holiday season is upon us. It all started last Thursday with the International Turkey Day, aka the Thanksgiving. Last year it was just Chris and I. This year, we had Mark and also my brother, Arkadiy, came down from New York. Also, this year the T-day fell right on his B-day - a double whammy that called for double the food, at least in my mind. So we went grocery shopping and got this 15-lb grain-fed, free-range, hormone-free turkey and a bunch of other stuff from the Whole Foods.
This year I made Dried Plums and Rosemary Roasted Turkey, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, double-baked sweet potatoes, ginger-flavored green beans, mushroom and cerely stuffing, and ginger and pear muffins. And Chris baked two loaves of bread - zuccinni and pumpkin and a pear and cranberry pie. And of course, I made a big bowl of Chris's favorite salad (the one with Jello and mini marshmellows). We decided to have a dinner instead of a more traditional lunch. So we had a lot of time in the morning to wake up and get ready, cook all the food, and go on a walk around Lake Crabtree and collect pretty leaves. Mark really enjoyed the walk. We found tons of leaves, some of which I kept to decorate the table with and some - gave to Mark to play with.
So the dinner was ready and the table was set. Then we proceeded to stuff ourselves silly with all the food. Here we are, pigging out... We had to take a break before eating the pie 'cause we were so full. And then we went back to our Thanksgiving duty of eating... And of course, we sang a Happy B-Day song for my brother. We didn't have birthday candles, so we gave him a lighter to hold and then made sure to take our time singing, hehe. All in all, it was great!
Mark also got some holiday food. We gave him small pieces of turkey and some mashed potatoes and some sweet potatoes. He especially liked the mashed potatoes - got them all over himself. That's what he does with the food that he likes very much. And he likes a lot of different kinds of foods. So meal times are pretty much always followed by bath times. Check out Mark's new bath robe! Doesn't he look totally cool?
The next day it was very-very cold, but still sunny. Chris had to do tons of homework and Arkadiy and I took Mark on a walk around the lake. Mark had to wear his "Buzz Aldrin" space suit. Other than it being cold, it was a fine day - sunny and calm. Also, since most people were either shopping or eating left-overs, the trail around the lake was almost empty. And, more importantly, there were plenty of empty rocking chairs at the boat house for after the walk. And the birds - ducks and geese - were close to the little sandy beach, waiting to be fed.
It was a tough weekend for our cat, Xander. For some reason he is very scared of Arkadiy. I mean, the very second my brother walked through the front door, Xander started hissing and growling. Then he ran upstairs and stayed there for 2 days. He wouldn't even come down to eat or drink and Chris had to bring him downstairs to the kitchen at night. I mean, Xander never really liked Arkadiy, but this time it was really ridiculous. What the heck? Today was absolutely dreadful. We tried going on walk even though it was very cold. But less than 5 minutes into our walk it started to rain and we went back to the car. So we stayed in the house, Mark - playing, Arkadiy - on Internet, Chris - studying, and I - doing stuff around the house. Then, after Arkadiy left, we went to a mall for a walk and then - to Ben&Jerry's, of all places, for some Chocolate Therapy.
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