Sing It Again, Bing.

"I've got arms to hug with, lips to kiss with; someone to adore. How could anybody ask for more? For I've got plenty to be thankful for." - Bing Crosby, Holiday Inn

That's a line from the Thanksgiving song in the movie, Holiday Inn; one of my personal favourites. Sure, it's cheesy, and there are some really disgraceful racial stereotypes going on, but it's a fun movie that means well and has some great tunes, courtesy of Mr. Irving Berlin.

Yesterday was my fourth - fourth! - Thanksgiving with the Husband. Also, the fourth Thanksgiving meal that I cooked pretty much on my own. It was funny to count up the years and realise that. I've come quite a way from the first year when I forgot to take the giblets out of the turkey until halfway through its cooking time! Oops...

We drove to the in-laws' house early in the day and got cracking on baking pies and prepping the turkey. Once we'd eaten lunch, I made good on the first day of my running streak and did 1.6 miles up the hill and back before coming back to the house to get the bird in the oven and relax with my boys until it was time to get the side dishes going.

So what did we eat? Here's a pretty good run down

• Turkey with gravy
• stuffing balls
• cranberry sauce
• corn & peas
• mashed potatoes
• roasted candied sweet potatoes (minus the marshmallows)
• maple roasted carrots & parsnips (courtesy of my sister-in-law, Emily)
• macaroni & cheese
• buttermilk biscuits
• apple pie 
• pumpkin pie

Surprisingly, this was a pretty easy spread to put together...and we weren't much later getting dinner on the table than I'd hoped to be. I do love excuses to whip up a nice big dinner with fun baked desserts. I know I say this quite a bit, but I can't quite figure out when I became a person who likes to cook and enjoys baking. I'm still so used to thinking of myself as the person who only works in the kitchen when press ganged.

via, Wikipedia

So what am I thankful for this year? I'm thankful for the awesome opportunity my sister has to study in Vienna, and how much closer that puts her to us for that time. I'm thankful for Tante Joppe, my Far Mor's sister, for thousands of reasons. I'm thankful for my mommy: for the wonderful example of a good mom that she is, and for all the goofy little songs she's taught me that I now sing to E. I'm grateful for a tiny little boy with curly blondish hair, blue eyes, and sticky-outty ears who gives sloppy, open-mouthed kisses and whose favourite authors are Emily Gravett and Oliver Jeffers. I'm grateful for a bigger boy who changes nappies, reads stories, plays the piano, does impressive coding in Excel, and who also has beautiful blue eyes...though of an entirely different shade. I'm grateful for step-parents who love my mom & dad; who keep them company, who care for them, and who give them someone to love and care for as well. I'm grateful for good friends like Boo and Leisha and Krystle and Jake and Nathaniel and Em and Tarik and Elizabeth who still feel like big and important parts of our life, even though we only keep up on blogs and Instagram and Facebook.

Basically, I have a wealth of things I could use to populate this list that I'm really thankful for. At the top of that list, though, have to be the man who is the love of my life and our gorgeous, silly, opinionated little boy. They are so much of what makes my life as wonderful as it is, and so I can never regret any decision that helped to bring us all together as a family.

my handsome boys and me

Now, I need to keep up with my goals and go be thankful for moisture-wicking fabrics and an iPod armband holder... #timeforanotherrun