thanksgiving.

let's talk thanksgiving. it was the one year anniversary of my mom's busted knee, and i'm happy to report that she ran the show this year like a champ.

also, do you remember how i almost broke thanksgiving last year when a sneaky dish rag got chomped in the garbage disposal? well, apparently the sink loves to break on thanksgiving. because this happened.

BUT I DIDN'T DO IT THIS TIME!!!

anywho.

there were two thanksgivings this year. matt and allison spent the day of thanksgiving with her family in battle creek, so my parents and i went to rich, lins, and norah's to feast on a super traditional meal of asian short ribs.

these suckers were so effing good, i can't even put it into words.

this tasty layer dip wasn't too shabby, either.

i worked on a mini thanksgiving craft.

while norah worked on her babbling.

games were played. fun was had.


today was when things got real.

more games were played.

norah had so much fun, she shat herself.

we all hung out. some more than others.

thanks to the wonder of technology, we now know exactly what shoe size norah should wear.

some of us were twinsies.

we cooked.

and we cooked.

and we cooked.

and we cooked.

and we ate. just like the pilgrims and indians wanted us to.

and then
AND THEN!

we upheld the annual ray family thanksgiving day tradition: spoon game. if you don't know the specifics of spoon game, read about it here. here's the gist:

take turns passing a tablespoon around the table.

everyone carefully places bits of food on the spoon.

after awhile, it starts to look like this. terrifying. then, the first person to let any of the food fall off the spoon has to eat the contents of the spoon.

AND IT WASN'T ME THIS YEAR!!!

poor allison.

her first year spending thanksgiving with us and she has to eat the spoon.

but she had a pretty good strategy:

1) stare that sucker down and let it know who's boss.

2) plug the nose so the taste is less overwhelming. try not to think about the fact that butter, gravy, pie, stuffing, and turkey skin are forming a mini mosh pit in your mouth.

3) now, you definitely don't want to spit that crap out. because you'll just have to stick it all back in again. there's no backing out once you've started. so if need be, clamp your mouth shut and pray it goes down. allison nailed this step.

4) and finally, just embrace it.


another day for which to be thankful.