Thanksgiving.

Jimmy, Alex and Uncle Pete.

So thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my family. The six of us traveled to Miami to spend the holidays with Yiayia and Papouli. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and almost immediately the kids wanted to go swimming. The water was a little cold, but none of them seemed to mind.









After dinner Yiayia and Helen got started on the preparations for Thursday's meal. Here they are making the corn bread casserole.

Will just had to help so they gave him his own mixing cup to play with. Why do the kids love eating sour cream so much?

After a quick trip to Starbucks Thursday morning for Papouli, Jimmy and Alex we continued cooking for the big feast. Yiayia and Papouli worked together to get the stuffing just right. Aren't they cute? (By the way, their 41st wedding anniversary is on Sunday, the 29th) Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Last year Papouli tried deep frying a turkey and thought it turned out so good he decided to do it again this year. In fact, he loved his fryer so much he kept rummaging in the fridge to see what else he could put in there. We ended up having fried shrimp, frog legs, spinach pies and leftover ham. There was some talk of deep fried ice cream, but we were able to dissuade him.

Yiayia made another turkey the "traditional" way. We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, yams with marshmallows, green beans, Grandma's squash casserole and cranberry sauce. Everything was delicious. Hard to believe, but we all still had room for dessert: pumpkin pie, apple pie, cookies and even ice-cream.

The best part of the meal was when Alex read some poems he wrote in school for the occasion.
My favorite one was titled "When Daddy Carves the Turkey."

When Daddy carves the turkey,

it is really quite a sight,

I know he tries his hardest,

but he never does it right.

He makes a fancy show of it

before he starts to carve,

and stabs in all directions

while we're certain that we'll starve.

He seems to take forever

as we sit and shake our heads,

by the time he's finished slicing

he's reduced the bird to shreds.

He yells as loud as thunder

just before he's finally through

for when Daddy carves the turkey,

Daddy carves his finger too.

-Alex Land

November 2009