I hope you all enjoyed a very happy Turkey Day!

I spent the holiday enjoying quality time with family, starting with a morning visit to my grandmother who was celebrating her 96th Thanksgiving. Here’s a group shot with my parents, aunt and uncle, and two cute pooches:

Back at home, my cousin and his wife joined us for an afternoon spent catching up and indulging in our favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

Just enough snow fell the night before to give the appearance that winter is coming, without the hazard of slippery roads.

A Thanksgiving toast:

Quick plug: my super talented cousin David Meyer is an author and history buff (check out his adventure novels here), and next Saturday he’ll appear on America Unearthed for an episode about rumored treasure left behind by General Custer. Airs 9pm on History Channel 2!

More of our dinner prep:

My contribution was Brussels sprouts with bacon… YUM.

After dinner, we gathered around to play the funniest game called Redneck Life — it’s like the regular game LIFE, but set in a redneck society. Roll the dice to pick a name (like Bertha Sue or Bubba Joe) and get a career (e.g. mohawk hairdresser) and a car (like the “mini pooper” which is a horse). The person with the most teeth left at the end of the game wins. It’s totally non-PC and very hilarious. I think we spent 2-3 hours playing it.

We devoured three pies for dessert (pumpkin, blueberry, pecan) plus black-and-white cookies. All store-bought, stress-free! We ate way too much and savored every bite.

Quality time with family made this day really meaningful — the extravagant food was an added bonus.

I hope your day was just as special!