merry and bright

now that i'm out of my food coma, i guess its time for an update.

thanksgiving was so great!

we stayed here again instead of going home.

(not that i was offered an alternative, but i really thought i was ok with not being around family for turkey day. of course that all changed when i started watching the macy's parade while talking to my family.

the water works just came out of nowhere...and stayed for most of the morning.)

i eventually got a hold of  my emotions, asked my mom a million cooking questions for
my homemade rolls and mashed potatoes,

and we ended up having such a wonderful, delicious, fun day.

i'm so grateful for the friends here that invited us to join them for thanksgiving dinner.

they made our thanksgiving away from home more than ok.

on friday, joe absolutely refused to take part in any black friday shopping

and i wasn't about to go brave those crowds by myself!

so instead we headed into the city for the tree lighting ceremony

to fight the biggest crowd we could find...

it was such a beautiful day, and i ended up getting to do some shopping after all :)

we watched the actual lighting of the tree from one of macy's big windows, and i'm pretty sure we had the best seat in the house.

we ended the night with some rooftop dining at cheesecake factory, with a view of union square, ice skaters, and the tree.

i'm loving the city this holiday season.

its so magical and buzzing with so much excitement.

on saturday joe finally agreed to see twilight with me.

i'm not sure what he hated more:

the movie, or my review of the first 4 movies so he wouldn't be confused the whole time.

i think he was still confused but he was a good sport and didn't make fun of me once!

sunday was a big day.

joe and i agree that the leftovers from thanksgiving is one of the best parts, and we knew we wouldn't have any this year.

so...we attempted our first thanksgiving meal: just the two of us!

turkey, rolls, gravy, stuffing (from a box), potatoes...the whole smorgasbord!

once again, i called my mom so many times, she probably felt like she was the one cooking the meal.

what would i do without her? thanks mom!

unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well as i'd hoped.

the potatoes were too runny, the gravy wasn't very flavorful, and the rolls were in the oven a little too long.

but we didn't burn the turkey! 

so i'm chalking this up to mostly a success and hopefully it'll be better next time.

i had every intention of documenting the process, but the only picture i managed to get was of the turkey before we cooked it...no one cares to see that.

oh, and all of our christmas decor, including the tree, is now up!

so things really are merry and bright around here. 

happy holidays everyone!