My goal for Thanksgiving week was to unplug. I don’t want to brag or anything, but I knocked that goal out of the park. I opened my laptop three times and often put my phone on airplane mode. I’m riding the tail-end of a burnout (blogging and otherwise) so while I wish I was super productive writing posts during the break, I wasn’t. I’m ok with that.
However, now that I’m trying to get back into the swing of things, I feel like a baby learning to walk…or write, in this case. What am I supposed to write about? This feels so awkward. Ok got it…No. Delete. I should have taken more pictures this week. Can I post more of my dog? Who reads this?
Clearly a week off hasn’t halted my over thinking, or my desire to be funny.
Before I started writing this post I re-read previous Thanksgiving recaps, just for fun (2014, 2015). Turns out, those posts weren’t half bad. In fact, they are very similar to how I feel right now. Still…2016 deserves its own acknowledgment.
We haven’t had a Thanksgiving with just the four of us in a long time (ever?) and my sister jokingly asked me, “are we eating normal Thanksgiving food or will you make me eat zoodles?” Um…no joking about zoodles on my watch. We kept it 100% traditional and my mom cooked a delicious feast in our very tiny kitchen. I helped her…kind of. Roasting vegetables is my calling in life so I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.
I’m not a fan of traditional Thanksgiving food (too mushy) but I always improvise and bake what I can. While my mom used the inside of the sweet potatoes for a mashed dish, I saved the skin and baked them with cinnamon and coconut oil to make “chips” (brilliant). I made rainbow carrots, too, but that’s it. I guess the oven did most of the work for me ;)
We added some persimmons to the table because they fit the orange-food theme (kidding, but they did match). The persimmon is the tomato’s better-tasting and looking cousin. I don’t know if they are actually related though…
I’m almost positive you ate the same thing, but here’s a picture of our turkey (stuffed with GF stuffing). After dinner I put that turkey to good use and made bone broth with the carcass.
Archie wanted in
We ate dinner at 2 p.m. (I hate calling it dinner because it’s really a late/big lunch), went on a family walk and then played Rotten Apples. Later that night we continued our should-be-an-official-tradition tradition of watching Friends Thanksgiving episodes. If you’ve never seen “The One Where Ross Got High,” go watch that now.
Football somehow fit into the day. Luckily, the Eagles weren’t on this year. We escaped the possibility of a depressing game on a holiday! That’s a win in itself.
The day was simple, yes, but I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
With everything that has happened this year (not just personally), I keep reverting back to the fact that gratitude is a choice. It’s free, simple and one of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves. Maybe my abundance of gratitude from this past week counters my lack of exercise in terms of ‘healthy’? Sometimes I need to disconnect from the day-to-day (i.e. social media) to gain that perspective, but I’ve gotten better at implementing a gratitude/happiness practice into my routine. It’s pretty darn magical.
Living in a place with palm trees. Check one for gratitude.
The rest of the week was very similar: simple but wonderful. We cleaned, decorated for Christmas, went on a boat-cruise, spent time with friends, shopped (not on Black Friday), and took Christmas card photos.
With that, I’m slowly coming back to blogging life. My Bloglovin‘ feed is out of control! I hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday. Go play Christmas music without any hesitation.
Welcome back! <3 Glad to see you had a wonderful Thanksgiving spend offline. I was barely on my laptop and it felt amazing. We eat Thanksgiving dinner around 4:30ish since we all go to my aunt's house for it at 3 and eat appetizers until its ready. It still feels sorta early, but then I have more time to eat dessert ;)
Brie @ Lean, Clean, & Brie recently posted…Life Lately — November
My body clock was thrown off all day because I slept later than normal. So 2 p.m. felt like lunch and it worked out ok :)
I like to eat Thanksgiving dinner at lunch time so that I can fit in as many rounds as possible. We do pie at the regular dinner time (for maximum gluttony), or at least, that is what we do now, when I am at home. When I was growing up (and we went to New York) and this weekend, we had it at 4-5 and pie right after. I unplugged quite a bit as well (but not completely, because I had to post blogiversary things). It was awesome! Glad you had a beautiful holiday, m’dear.
Susie @ SuzLyfe recently posted…Palmetto Bluff Thanksgiving 2016)
Your weekend sounded awesome, too! I love that area of SC (I’ve only been to HH). That’s my theory too…eat at lunch first so you can go back for leftovers that night.
I unplugged pretty well, too. I opened my laptop Saturday to start today’s post but besides that, I just sort of ignored it. I needed a break. We ate at 2:40 and 4:30 on Thanksgiving but I agree, the food is too mushy. That’s such a great word for it! So I didn’t eat anything at the first and had broccoli cheese casserole at the second. Womp womp, ha. I hit up Black Friday sales, but not super early or super late Thanksgiving. Just during the day Friday. Have a great day!
Heather @Lunging Through Life recently posted…A Thankful Thanksgiving Indeed
I’ve never been a fan of mushy food (even bananas are iffy for me haha) so I roast whatever I can instead! I didn’t do Black Friday but I had big time success on Cyber Monday :)
Sounds like you had an amazing day and your photos you look yummy!
Thank you! My mom did a great job with the turkey. Nice to see you today :)
We started eating appetizers at 1:00 PM…Dinner at 4:00 PM…Desert at 7:30 PM. So basically it was my normal 3 meals…LOL! Ours was simple and just what I wanted. I am so happy I was sent home with yummy leftovers. Have a beautiful Monday! XOXO
ACKTIVE LIFE recently posted…Island Girls Start A Podcast
Sounds perfect to me! I always have three “normal” meals on Thanksgiving, the timing just changes. Hope you’re having a great week!
Sounds perfect to me too!
We’ve lost our traditional Thanksgiving over the last few years and no one is ever together anymore. It’s sad…but there’s always Christmas (kinda) :P I’ll revive the holidays when I’m older with my own house!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine recently posted…Cranberry Sauce Quick Bread
When we moved to Florida we lost our traditional Thanksgiving so we’ve had to improvise and find a new normal. I hope you are able to be with family at Christmas :)
Love all of the photos! The quality is amazing. I hear you on the burnout. I was better about technology but still not great :) I’m better when I’m at home with the family for sure. As for Thanksgiving food, I am no longer huge on the turkey front but love love love sweet potatoes. I would be a-okay with sweet potatoes, some stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Oh and my grandma’s rolls! Have a good week!
I’m much better at disconnecting when I’m with family so it felt natural to do so last week. It looked like you had a nice holiday weekend in the city though :)
I think a social media detox is ALWAYS a good thing. I’ve been off facebook for the most part over the last few weeks (since the election) and it’s been wonderful.
Your thanksgiving food looks so yummy, I love the sweet potato chips!
Kristin recently posted…Holiday Coffee Flavors That Are Pretty Much Amazing
Honestly, I have too (for that same reason). It has been wonderful!
Happy belated Thanksgiving, Emily! :) My family always eats Thanksgiving dinner at the normal dinnertime, haha. Although my BF found that very weird as his family always eats in the early afternoon!
Claire @ My Pink & Green Life recently posted…Living Smaller
Same to you, Claire! Some years I want to eat later, but this year I was glad to have it on the early side.
Love this! Missed you and I’m glad you had a simple yet perfect day with the fam!
Thanks, Kaila :) I hope you had a great holiday, too!
Taking time offline is always always good. :) <3 Your Thanksgiving celebration looks absolutely beautiful.
Emily recently posted…From a People Pleaser: Who Are You Living to Please?
Thanks, Em! It always feels good to disconnect.
Those persimmons look amaaaaaazing. My husband and I got into a fight about when an appropriate time to eat T-dinner is. I said Linner time–like 3 or 4. He said no, it’s either lunch or dinner (who is he??). So we ate around 3. Well, they ate, I calmed a mad toddler and then ate alone. The food was still good though. ;-) Probably because we got it catered from Whole Foods. Becuase I’m just that lazy this year. Glad you got some offline family time! It sounds like a great holiday!! :)
Mollie Sweet recently posted…Pregnancy Workouts and Miles – Week 37
Whole Foods catering? Sign me up! We spent last Thanksgiving with family friends and I watched their one year old while the mom ate. I know mealtime is stressful in general so I was happy to help on that occasion.
Simple can so often be unexpectedly wonderful and I’m so glad you enjoyed Thanksgving! Family and friends are two things I am feeling exceptionally grateful for at the moment and just knowing you have people to turn to who will listen when you need help is a blessing that I shouldn’t take for granted as much as I do.
P.S. Persimmons are AMAZING :) It’s sad that they are not in season for very long but I’ve pretty much had one everyday since they arrived in the supermarkets mid-November… xx