Thanksgiving Weekend

We are just at the end of a great Thanksgiving holiday. What a special blessing it has been for us to be in America this year and to be able to spend it with family! At the moment I have a huge turkey carcass in my fridge waiting to be made into Turkey soup. I'm not exactly sure how to make it but I talked with my mom-in-law today and am planning on visiting a few websites tonight to figure out how to do it. As I struggled to slice off some small pieces of the meat last night Alex walked past and said 'you know, you probably need to actually touch the turkey to get that meat off.' I do have a slight aversion to touching something like turkey remains, but I am hopeful that pushing through tonight and making this turkey soup will be a big step for me and open up new possibilities for cooking meat for my family.

But let me back up and fill in the details of the week! Sorry no photos with this post. My brother, Chris, has an amazing new camera and took a ton of photos. So I decided to let my little 'point and shoot' have a break. But I forgot to get the photos from him before he left, so I'll have to save them for another post later in the week.

Thanksgiving day we woke up early and headed out to the Greensboro Gobbler 5k where I ran with my brother Michael and his wife, Lynn. I have not done much running since before I was pregnant with Geneva and did not train as I should have. But I did finish the race and with a much better time than I expected (I will not post my time, but I'll just say it was the same number as my age...no, not a great running time, but hey...I at least finished!). Alex and I then took the girls over to my parents for a relaxing afternoon of watching football (for Alex) and fun with cousin Lucy. The rest of my family couldn't come until Friday night so we saved the big meal for Saturday. Friday Alex and I went on a REAL DATE...meaning just us, no kids, for the first time in a LOOOONG time. Thanks to Michael and Lynn for babysitting! Alex and I tend to be 'bring the baby along' kind of people when we go out. We let the big kids enjoy the babysitting. Geneva has been such an easy baby that is hasn't ever bothered us to bring her along. But it was pretty great to be at a restaurant and not need to ask for a baby chair! We decided not to engage in the great American tradition of Black Friday shopping. Just doesn't seem worth it. Plus with limited packing space when we head back to China in a month I have to set limits on myself and my huge desire to stock up. I was shocked, however, to discover that over the past few years the opening time for some shops has moved up from 6am (which did seem early) a few years ago to now 3am and 4am. What???

Saturday was our big Thanksgiving day with the Beahm side of the family. We had a great time and managed a cute Christmas card photo with the entire family. I do believe we even got one with all six grandkids looking at the camera (lots of bribery and candy corn for that one). Our girls LOVED playing with their cousins, eating delicious food, and wrestling with their uncles. Christmas season began shortly after the dinner with a viewing of Polar Express for the big kids with their Opa.

Since I don't have any photos, I'll just end here. I've got to get working on the turkey that is sitting in my fridge. Anyone have good leftover recipes??