mission: thanksgiving and beyond

so we are almost a week out since thanksgiving, and i hope you all had an enjoyable one. i sure did! this year we traveled all the way down the turnpike to jersey/pennsylvania to spend the holiday with my family. first stop! tori and dylan's new home! we had the pleasure of staying with my sister this year because my mom had a full house...there was literally no room in the inn. we had our pre thanksgiving dinner at shileen's pub in westville where we enjoyed some good ole bar fare and a pumpkin pie shot! pretty good way to kick off the festivities if you ask me!

thursday morning patrick and i got up bright and early to get ready to go to my mom's house in PA. for those of you who do not know my lil mommy, this is her favorite holiday, and she and my step dad, kirk, pull out all of the stops.

this year my mom decided to have not one, but two turkeys. the best part is that she paid under $12 for both of them...total! the trimmings included: her most delicious stuffing, brussel sprouts with bacon, green bean casserole, candied yams, sweet potato casserole (made by yours truly), mashed potatoes, mimom's homemade cranberry relish, and roasted carrots with rosemary. for dessert we had pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin delight cake, cheesecake, roasted pecans, candy...did i forget anything? oh yeah we topped it all with some homemade cinnamon vanilla whipped cream. yum!

before the meal we had cheese, hummus, salami, pepperoni, crackers, fruit...really the list goes on!!! so not only did my mom prepare the food, but she had a beautiful table all set for us.

here are some pics from the day!




















me and my mimom
























thanksgiving table. candelabra from anthropologie!
























kirk grilled one of the turkeys because the other one was in the oven roasting. it turned out great!






















turkeys side by side



















patrick and i are ready to dig in! yummy!























my mom's dog jack waiting for thanksgiving to begin and hoping for some scraps!

after stuffing myself full of tasty food all day, it was time to head home. a food coma induced slumber began as soon as i returned home to my sister's. the next day we spent the morning lazying around, picked up a new piece to our Christmas village from khols and then travelled to my dad's in millville, nj to get cheeseburgers from jim's lunch and hit up the annual christmas parade. it was fun hanging out with my dad and step-mom, cindy, as well as my brother, sis-in-law, and their son! after the parade we headed back to my dad's house for some hot chocolate and lots of xbox kinect! oh man did we dance our food off!

no pics from the parade...i forgot my camera at my mom's house.

saturday, 15 of us ventured out to hershey park to celebrate mimom's 75th birthday. the family first checked out chocolate world, rode the chocolate tour ride, got our free chocolate, and then stocked up on all the goodies you can't find in your average grocery store! then, everyone went to the hershey grille at the hershey lodge for a wonderful dinner. after stuffing my face yet again (good thing i am training for the tinkerbell half marathon or i would never make it without gaining weight), we went to hershey park to ride the rides and enjoy the 2 million lights they have set up!


















mom and zeph at chocolate world





















me and mimom on the chocolate tour ride!


















josh and zeph...someone is excited to see the lights in hershey park




















patrick and i ending the night on the monorail

after all the traveling back and forth from house to house to hotel and back home, i am still recovering! i did have a great time hanging out with my family, and i am looking forward to continuing celebrating the holidays with more friends and family.

this is beth signing off.
mission: accomplished

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