We had another lovely Thanksgiving with Stan and Betty this year but while looking through these pictures I realized I completely dropped the ball when it came to documenting. I didn't get a single picture with Stan!
They got into Tampa late on Tuesday evening and our main activity this visit seemed to be eating our way through all of our favorite Tampa restaurants. I'm not kidding -- I still feel like I could use a good week of eating salads. :) We made it to Datz for both dinner and brunch, Bartaco (definitely a new favorite), Square 1 Burgers and last but not least ate some tasty pizza at Mellow Mushroom on our way to a quick visit to Clearwater Beach.
Let's not forget that we also had Thanksgiving dinner in the midst of all of that! We used the same Julia Child recipe from last year where you separate the white meat from the dark meat. It doesn't look pretty but it cooks so much faster and more evenly, although we agreed that last year's turkey was better than this year's which frustrated Robert to no end. Every year he swears over the bird and mutters under his breath about making a pork loin or having an Italian Thanksgiving the following year...but we always talk him out of it.
Abby can be a little hit or miss with her naps these days and when the turkey finally finished cooking and I went to get her from her room at 2:00, I found her sound asleep on her bed. I felt so bad seeing her empty chair and plate at the table! I really wish she could have eaten with us because it turned out to be a delicious spread.
We commented that we had much more color on our plates this year, which was nice. Along with the turkey we had Betty's rolls, stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes, a Trader Joe's cauliflower gratin, and green beans with lemon butter. But the big win this year? I learned that I actually like Brussels sprouts when they're cooked in butter with toasted pecans and cranberries. Thanks, Alton Brown!
For dessert Betty made both pumpkin pie and apple pie.
Abby woke up hungry a few hours later.
Her hair is so crazy these days!
After cleaning up dishes for 20 minutes or so, I came back to the table to see this Thanksgiving dinner scene with her stuffed animals. How cute is that?!
The weather was beautiful while Stan and Betty were in town and we tried to get outside as much as possible.
Abby keeps getting stronger and more coordinated.
She loves to hang. On anything, really.
I think she was selling "food" (sticks) to grandma.
Christmas is my most favorite time of the year so the day after Thanksgiving we dragged out our boxes of decorations and ornaments. Betty helped Abby hang ornaments on the little white tree in her room.
She was so proud of her work!
Then we put up the tree in our living room.
Abby was very careful with the ornaments and she helped me much more than I expected her to. I had so much fun telling her the "story" behind each one. She was thrilled to see the Mickey, Minnie and Daisy marching band ornaments that my mom had given to me in high school.
My mom is currently buying a series of cupcake ornaments from Hallmark for me and I started a series of cookie cutter ornaments the year Abby was born, so I feel like we should have a baking tree at some point down the road. Along with a music tree and a flamingo tree, of course.
Nothing like decorating the tree in short sleeves and a summer skirt.
This is also the first year that Abby is enjoying playing with her Little People nativity set. She creates silly little conversations between the people and even the animals and she'll spin and spin in circles to the "Away in a Manger" music it plays.
Christmas with little ones is the best!!
