5 days off work!

Brian and I took a vacation day last Wednesday, then the site was closed on Thursday and Friday for thanksgiving. You can imagine that after 5 days of not working I'm pretty hooked! Thanksgiving went very well. Brian's parents arrived around noon on Thursday and Brian and Joan helped me with prep work for the Turkey. The turkey came out really well. The ginger was very subtle and the rosemary made the most wonderful aroma. I added pine nuts to my sage and onion stuffing and it was awesome! Also, adding a little orange zest to the cranberry sauce worked out well. It gave it a little, well, zest I guess ;-)

Jenn and Ethan came over around 4pm. By then Joan and I were well into our second or maybe third bottle of wine. I especially like to cook when I have had a few glasses of wine, though my knife handling skills go downhill a little after two or three. I'm happy to report, though, that I still have all my fingers. Dinner was wonderful and not too much left over of the side items. There was quite a bit of turkey left over but the thing was 15lbs. No matter... I love turkey sandwiches.

Joan made white chocolate orange surprise for dessert. It was kind of a cake with an orange sauce and chocolate on it, and a strawberry to garnish. It tasted wonderful! By the time Jenn left the effects of too much wine and food had hit me and I was feeling rather nauseous and had a pounding head ache. That's what I get for over indulging. But it's only once a year so it was worth it.

The day after thanksgiving, which is the biggest retail day of the year, Brian and his dad went to watch the football game at a bar, and Joan and I braved the crowds at Kohl's. But we left because it was crazy packed. The queue to the registers went to the back of the store on both sides! I did a little xmas shopping for my family in England at less crowded places. That evening we went to dinner at the European Bistro in Pflugerville. I have been wanting to try it for quite some time. I'd definately go back. I had the beef wellington, which was pretty good, but I think next time I'll order the yaeger schnitzel.

We babysat Ethan Friday night, but we were all so tired that we ended up passing out around 11pm, despite Ethan wanting to stay up and watch TV. He passed out between me and Brian shortly after laying his head down ;-)

On Saturday we finished our xmas shopping for the England portion of the family and spent a lot of time in front of the telly.

On Sunday we did a 10 mile run with Jen. Brian's knee started to bother him, though and we finished the last two miles walking. Sunday was spent in front of the TV as well :-) Now we're back at work and I'm trying to get my head around what needs to be done prior to the next holiday!