Pinky experienced her First Thanksgiving this year. We spent it in three places: at home, at her great grandparent’s house and at her grandparent’s house. We are blessed that our immediate family resides locally in San Diego. Our Thanksgiving was fun and productive.
Once Pinky woke up I greeted her a Happy Thanksgiving and told her all the things we should be thankful for. Then we greeted Daddy and told him how thankful we were for him. I thanked God for my family! The day started out great! We had the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on in the background as I cooked breakfast, corned beef egg frittata with onions and smashed home fries. Pinky enjoyed her own breakfast, a nice bath and then a much needed nap. Once she was down I got to cooking the side dishes for my parent’s house: Campbell’s Green Bean Casserole and Bleu Cheese Mac and Cheese! Daddy helped me fill the pumpkin whoopie pies we had made the night before.
Yummy Food & Dessert!
We all got ready…Pinky was wearing the cutest outfit ever…handed down to her from her god-sister Shayla Boo…a holiday red Ralph Lauren dress!
Pinky's First Thanksgiving
Daddy look very nice and Mommy tried to be as presentable as possible. Thanks for the photos Baby!
Mommy & Daddy
The Girls
We headed out to Chula Vista to spend time with Daddy’s side of the family for dinner. Everything was delicious! We had turkey, mashed potatoes, corned bread, greens, shrimp salad, biscuits and LOTS of dessert! Aside from our pumpkin whoopies, we had pumpkin cheesecake, mini pumpkin cheesecake fried pies, feet cupcakes, and leche flan! Oh my! Did I forget anything? As the family said, this year was definitely a ‘white’ Thanksgiving! A huge, yet wonderful change from the past years of uninspired Chinese take out you can have any night of the week. The best part of this meal, aside from eating it, was listening to everyone tell their stories about how they put their blood, sweat and tears into the dishes they made. Everyone actually cooked something, which was another rarity. Hardly anything was store bought.
Finally, the best part of Thanksgiving with Daddy’s family was spending it with Grandpa, Pinky’s only living Great Grandpa!
Great Grandpa Perez
A couple hours and a few desserts later, we headed back up North to my parent’s house where there was more food to be eaten and more family to love. I felt bad because by the time we arrived I already had food-coma. Turkey really does knock you out, because it has a natural sedative. Read here if you’re interested in the details. Anyway, We usually have a very American meal at my parent’s house, we had turkey, ham and all the fixin’s! It’s usually always quite chaotic and that’s just the way it is! Right when I walked in the door I got to the kitchen to find my mother slaving over the hot stove trying to make some gravy. I quickly took over to try and help. I knew she had been at work all day. I guess it paid off because my mom liked the gravy, at least I think she did. She said it looked like Tata’s gravy, her dad, my late grandpa. When she said that, it felt good to know I could remind her of him on such a special day. My siblings have been cooking dinner for the past few holidays now, and I must say I am extremely proud of them. We had a much smaller crowd here but it was nice, intimate and quiet. I prayed for the feast and we were at it again! I was surprised that my green bean casserole was a hit among the crowd. I couldn’t take it anymore though, I fell asleep on the couch. I think Pinky had some turkey too from the looks of this picture with her Grandpa at least…
Pinky & Grandpa Moe
Pinky was enjoying herself running around the house and playing on the keyboard, while Mommy and Daddy rested our heads for a moment until she started shaking me to wake up. It was a nice nap while it lasted.
Alana Keys 😉
Finally, we went home as a family thankful for everything we had, thankful for going home as a family discussing how great the day was. We have been so blessed over the past year and we thank God for all he has done for us and all he is going to do. This year we celebrated Pinky’s First Thanksgiving…the first of many more. Although, she may not remember her first Thanksgiving, I hope she will read this and catch a glimpse of it. Soon she will be jotting down her own memories. And I can only pray that she has some wonderful adventures and experiences to follow the ones we’ve already started.
Be grateful and thankful this Holiday Season and always. We are far more blessed than we choose to think. Thank you for taking time to read about our adventures!