Grasping for Reality: Thanksgiving 2008

Before getting back to the trip pictures, I thought I would share some from this Thanksgiving. My brother was in town for the first non-Mom emergency related visit of the year, and Amanda, his wife of little more than a year, came as well. Since they would be spending Christmas with her parents this year, we needed to soak up all the time with them we could.

My step-brother-in-law's Mom also joined us for Thanksgiving dinner, so we had a full table of 10, more people than we have had in recent years. It was nice having such a big group, although I am sure my Aunt and Grandmother who were in charge of making the meal would probably disagree. Although, I did come over 3 hours early to help. *pats self on back*

The Riley family's traditions for Thanksgiving are simple: appetizers and booze with dinner an hour later. Then, after about 45 minutes of chitchatting around the table, there's pie. Dear God, there is pie. 3 types of pie this year (pumpkin, cherry, and chocolate pumpkin), as well as my stepmother's famous pumpkin crisp and finally gingerbread cake. I packed three pieces of pie (they were small though so cut me a break), and then I basically didn't need to eat for another two days.

I took off the entire week from work, but it was so hectic that it didn't really feel like vacation. I did get to spend a lot of time with my family (although I didn't get any alone time with my brother which was disappointing), and I got all my Christmas shopping done, albeit mostly online, and most of the wrapping. AND I even convinced my Dad to come over to my place and hang out which was something of a minor miracle. Unless it's something car or pie related, he doesn't really venture far from home. Oh, and I managed to get a group of girls together to see Twilight, which was actually enjoyable and not terrible as I expected.

Let's get to the pictures!