Black Friday

We had such a lovely day yesterday. We all ran in a local turkey trot. Sam was sick, so he was a bit slower than usual, but Nick finished in the top 20 of the race. It always makes me giggle, because the last time he ran a timed run was last year's turkey trot. He was also wearing non running shoes, and his only goal was to beat M. M beat out everyone else in the 50+ division, so he was feeling great about that. I was about 30 seconds slower than last year, but there were a few points where I got stuck behind some slower folks, and it was hard to safely get past. Otherwise, I'd say I was on pace from last year. Always a win.

M grilled delicious steak, and we had mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans (we serve ours with parmesan & toasted almonds), roasted squash, & cranberry sauce. While we were finishing the meal prep, M & I had pomegranate martinis (delicious!) & the teens had sparkling cider. I also made goat cheese crostini, which is a family favorite. This year, I tried a new method, where I left some plain, added very thinly sliced cucumber on top of some, and then drizzled cranberry sauce across the last third. Those were my favorite! The savory plus sweet combination was fabulous.

We don't have a ton of leftovers, but I most certainly had green beans, stuffing & mashed potatoes (with cranberry sauce) for lunch. We make those things almost only ever on Thanksgiving, so they are a nice treat.

M had pumpkin pie (one slice of a Costco pie - that's how much he eats, so I'm not sure why he buys such a big pie!), & the boys & I had cookies. I gave away the rest of the Costco pie on Buy Nothing today, to a neighbor who didn't have leftovers. Glad to avoid waste.

As for today, I went to a hard workout class (much needed, after yesterday), picked up a few discounted gift cards for things we need (Home Depot, Lyft, etc) & bought a few Christmas gifts. 

The boys helped me assemble our artificial tree, and put out our decorations (we limit all of the Christmas decorations - minus outdoor lights) to one plastic tub. That includes our mantle decorations + the tree ornaments & skirt. It comes together pretty quickly. I also wrapped all of the boys gifts. I have a few other gifts that I'll pack in our suitcase for our trip to my parents house at Christmas. 

I took Nick to Target for a few things he needed, did multiple loads of laundry, and also found another 8 things to give away on Buy Nothing. Hurrah! I love getting stuff out of the house.

Finally, M & I are going on a date tonight (dinner). It's always lovely to get the time together.

Hope you've all been having a great week!