And now there are two. The holiday was wonderful for me and I hope for you as well. It was a full house with 2 sons, 2 girlfriends and 1 grand kitty. Our first time to have Thanksgiving in our home in years as we usually have traveled on Thanksgiving to someplace warmer. This year it was a pleasure to have it at home.
Aaron came early and helped with a few projects. Wait—more than a few projects. He is always eager and willing to do those jobs that are easier done with two or three people and we saved those for him.
Kitchen before–you can barely see the chandelier but it was huge!
Kitchen after with pretty red pendants (low light when I took the picture but you get the idea.)
Probably the biggest project was replacing two chandeliers that were a bit overwhelming in both the kitchen and dining room. Our furniture is a bit bigger than what the previous owners had, I think, and the lights were just too big. With smaller fixtures in a lighter tone it opens up the space a bit more and I love the end results. Now to slowly replace the rest of the fixtures in the house.
Dining room before
dining room after
We had a feast for Thanksgiving, of course, because I love to cook for everyone and I spent the day before getting everything ready that I could prepare ahead of time. I had some winning dishes if I must say so myself. Along with both turkey and ham we had the traditional green bean casserole, the best mashed potatoes I have ever made in my life, Au Gratin Sweet Potato Casserole from Iowa Girl Eats, JeniEat’s stuffing with Kielbasa, salad, banana bread, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and piecaken. If you missed my piecaken adventure I decided at the last minute to make it and found I had given away my spring form pan so my friend Marci came to the rescue. Thank goodness for new friends. My creation turned out quite well but it is rich and I could only eat a tiny piece. 
Check out my video of the creation.
.On Friday we hung around the house until later in the day when we went to downtown Brevard to their 4th Friday Art Walk and had dinner at one of our favorites places The Square Root. If you are ever in town I would highly recommend a meal at this unique eatery which is one of the best in town. The evening was topped off with a s’more session in the back yard.
Saturday we spent the afternoon and evening at The Biltmore in Asheville. I have written about a previous visit here and it is quickly becoming my favorite place. We toured the house, the winery, the gardens and made it to dinner at The Bistro for another wonderful meal. My heart was so happy that this day turned out exactly like I had hoped. It was the very first time all 6 of us had been together for any length of time and it was so much fun. 
But today as Buddy sleeps next to me on the couch recovering from the antics of Diego the kitten I reflect on how thankful I am for the year that we have had, the family that we call ours and the life that we are living. In all things give thanks. In ALL things.
Micah did a quick video of Buddy and Diego. Hopefully you can enjoy their antics when you click.
22 Comments
Leave a commentI can watch the boys play all day!
Oh my gosh–it was so funny. Holly just basically stayed in the bedroom the whole time Diego was here. 🙂
I love the new light fixtures! Nice to have help with those sort of projects and even better when it is your son!! Sounds like an ideal Thanksgiving for all of you and the cats. So much to be thankful for. They don´t celebrate Thanksgiving in Spain (although they celebrate everything else!) We celebrated in October for Canadian Thanksgiving and I walked around town wishing everyone Happy Thanksgiving. They loved it!
Thanks, Darlene! I think the new fixtures are perfect for our space. I love that you wished everyone a Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I am sure they appreciated it and it helped you remember your roots! 🙂
They seemed to know about American Thanksgiving. In fact they have Black Friday here!! (Not in a big way or as crazy) So it was fun to introduce them to Canadian Thanksgiving.
Wonderful weekend Beth Ann! Lovely that you got so much fun in. I missed being with my siblings this Thanksgiving, but also enjoyed a quiet weekend here at home. Though you guys had much better and warmer weather, so we were often regretting our decision to stay home!
It is always difficult for me to not be with my family (siblings and mom) at the holidays but the distance makes it so much more difficult to manage that these days especially with weather issues in the winter. Ugh. Not a fan of the snow and cold at all as you well know!
Aw, poor Buddy – Sometimes you have to watch out for the little ones! Glad you had such a great weekend!
Buddy did okay—-he held his own and found Diego to be more of an annoyance than anything probably. They were racing around by the end of the weekend. I hope Christmas will be a bit easier for Holly but doubtful. She is a grump.
It sounds like you had the perfect holiday weekend: projects completed, delicious food prepared and eaten, time with your family and the girlfriends and some really fun outings.
Love the new lights. What a difference they make in opening and updating the spaces.
I made nearly the same mashed potato recipes as you with cream cheese and sour cream. Mine used half-and-half and melted butter and chives and parsley. They were the best mashed potatoes ever. And bonus, I made them ahead of time and put them in the crockpot. So no mashing potatoes after guests arrived.
I love that mashed potato recipe! I did the same–made ahead and then just warmed them up. These could be frozen as well so I suspect it will be a favorite over the years now. I rarely make mashed potatoes but these were so yummy.
We did have a fabulous time and did some really fun things –the kids kayaked a little bit even as the weather was nice enough. We didn’t get to any serious hiking but next time!
What a great holiday! I loved the pics of Diego and I totally want to try a gluten free version of that dessert!
Looks like you had a lovely Thanksgiving! I am intriqued with the piecaken.
It sounds like a wonderful weekend! I’m so happy you got the long holiday with the boys and their girls…and kitties! 🙂
Huge fan of your coffee bar. I could comfortably get my coffee and or tea on all day there. Huge fan of your new lighting as well. Glad you had a wonderful thanksgiving and your menu sounds amazing.
I HEART my coffee bar. If you are ever in the area you have to stop in for a cuppa! Thanks for stopping by–we had an amazing weekend!
Nothing like a kitten to liven things up a bit. Enjoyed your “before and after” photos. Sounds like a wonderful holiday.
Oh my goodness—the kitten was a wild man. Aaron said he slept all the next day when they got home so I think he wore himself out. We had a great time.
Looks like you had a wonderful holiday! And you can never go wrong with a visit to the Biltmore; I love that place. My daughter and son-in-law were recently there for their third wedding anniversary.
Oh I bet that was a lovely anniversary! The new Inn is now open and we had drinks in the lobby while we waited for dinner at the Bistro. I do love that place and we got season passes. 🙂
I can’t wait for Christmas dinner now.. besides the turkey and those potatoes, someone HAS to try and make that piecaken thing. oh my it looks incredible. but I agree, I don’t think I could do more than a bit of a taste.
The piecaken was so rich. So very rich. But yummy in small doses.