Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I certainly did. It was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, and it was just the two of us. As amazing as it would have been to be with family, having our own little day to cook and relax in our PJs was pretty great. And we got to Skype with many of our loved ones-my mom and sister went over to Andrew's house to eat this year with his mom and Mimi. I'm trying to put the pressure on for a visit soon ;). I really can't express how amazing it is that our families our close to one another, physically and as friends.

I am so thankful for so many things that have happened this year. The number one, hopefully obvious thing being my brand new husband! Plus, he came with a whole new awesome family (though I already felt a part of it!). Since last Thanksgiving, we've both graduated college. And we have an amazing new home together (not to mention Andrew's oh-so-stable job). I'd be remiss if I didn't include Sam-o and Lilah in there, too (who, I might add, got special Jumbo bones to enjoy while we ate). They really make our couple feel like a little family. Seriously, I'm one blessed lady.

The night before Thanksgiving I tried my hand at a double layer pumpkin cheesecake (with Splenda, so the hubs would indulge). It was a major success. It might not look to pretty, but it tasted delicious! Especially considering I'd never made a cheesecake before.

Thanksgiving morning I started on the rest: homemade stuffing (to Andrew's low carb intensity's dismay), green bean casserole, and two Cornish hens. All new endevours, all quite tasty if I do say so myself...

For the hens I did a rub of butter, thyme, salt, and pepper: so simple, so good, though they took significantly longer to cook than I expected. The stuffing was a recipe I found online with lots of sausage, onions, and yummy herbs. There's so much of it, but I fully intend on it serving as lunch for the next week or so :)

My husband humored me and we set up our Christmas tree after dessert. I was almost embarrassingly excited about this...but seriously, is there any one material thing that has the same ability as a Christmas tree to make a house seem like a home? Andrew even put on some Christmas music, to which I dutifully (and to his dismay) sang loudly along with. As we were putting up ornaments, it truly hit me: we're a family.

I decided to stick with an overall blue/silver theme. Not only is it my favorite color, but I can always justify it with the Air Force.

The best was getting to put up our "real" ornaments-you know, the one that you get from family and friends rather than the 50 for $15 shatterproof balls. Like this beauty we got last year for Christmas from Andrew's grandparents, Mama Cray and Papa Cray:

Seriously. I feel like this should be on a pedestal.

My mom also got us a set of 12 ornaments that every newlywed couple is supposed to have, according to German tradition. They represent lots of lovely things.

Shelter and Protection

Unselfishness and Goodwill

Good Wishes

We also got some beautiful silver 2009 ornaments from Mom and Dad Smith last Christmas, and I'm definitely looking to purchase a "First Christmas 2010" ornament this year. I also want to get a New Mexico themed pretty to put up. I figure I probably need to do the typical military wife thing of collecting them wherever we go. Maybe I should have picked up one from Alabama and Ohio?

I'm so excited for the next few weeks. The house is finally coming together, we have friends headed out west for a visit, and I'm hoping to manage to see some family soon, even if it takes some finagling.