Once the holiday rush was over with all the "black friday" sales and the Thanksgiving travelers had returned home and cleared the airports and highways, Kevin and I grabbed our bags and flew north to Pittsburgh, PA to celebrate our Second Thanksgiving with my son, Timothy and his wife, Ashley and my niece Cortney and her husband Carl.
We arrived on Wednesday night and found the weather to be only a few degrees cooler in Pittsburgh than what we left in Charlotte. Tim & Ashley have a lovely two-bedroom town-home is a great neighborhood just minutes from Tim's work at the airport and from downtown Pittsburgh where there are lots of colleges and cultural activities.
The next morning, Thursday, we slept in and spent the morning relaxing and catching up with Tim & Ashley. Then we made an afternoon of browsing at IKEA and eating their famous "Swedish Meatballs" in the cafe...when we took a much needed break. Had so much fun there gathering all kinds of great storage ideas for our new "smaller" home in Raleigh. I was "dizzy" looking at all the armoires and storage containers...fabulous!
Ashely and I decided that these plastic bins would be great for "switching" out your seasonal clothes from storage...just throw a label on the container and you are good to go: spring/summer to fall/winter.
Sorry if these are a little blurry...DH took these with his cell phone :} Then I went crazy when we got to the bathrooms because I'm looking for shelving and a new mirror/medicine chest...when I got to the kitchens it was all over...I died and went to heaven...lol
It took many glasses of wine to calm me down that night so that I could fall asleep...had many happy dreams of "organizing" my stuff...lol
Then on Friday we stayed home and prepared the turkey and all the trimmings during the day while we waited for Carl & Cortney to arrive once they got out of work that day.
So while Kevin and Tim carved the turkey in the kitchen, Ashley and I made the gravy and warmed up the casseroles.
Hmm...what are those boys up too? Finally...we are hungry...Tim brings the bird to the table...
Now the table is full...Ashley made sweet potato casserole, squash casserole, cornbread and
a tossed salad which had to go on "tray tables" because we ran out of room...
what would we do without them...
Now it was time to open up the champagne to toast the holiday and Tim & Ashley's new home.
Ashley said "grace" and Tim gave the "toast" as the hosts in their new home.
Once we finished eating, Ashley & Tim pulled down the "stockings" that they had hung, for all their guests, as a holiday "favor".
See the stockings here, hung in the kitchen...this was a continuation of a tradition that Tim & Ashley started when they were in college...they would give each other stockings to open for their own, intimate Christmas before traveling home to spend the holidays with their families over the school break.
ohhh...Carl got truffles...he's hiding them from Cortney...maybe he'll share them with her later...Chocolate is a commodity in their household...they barter for personal "favors"...lol
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and making room for the NY style Cheesecake that Tim baked with fresh strawberries...it was so good...my favorite....I like my fork to stand up in the cheesecake...none of that whimpy "jello" or "cheesecake factory" soft stuff! It was after midnight before we'd let Carl & Cortney go home...poor Cortney had to get up to go to work at the restaurant (her second job) all day Saturday. So we said our goodbyes and went to bed feeling very, very thankful :}
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