It was my first real Thanksgiving dinner. Being Filipinos, my family doesn't really celebrate this american holiday, but my aunt was set on making me experience a typical thanksgiving meal. We bought the 12 lb turkey the day before and did a bit of last minute shopping on the morning of the 27th. I originally planned on waking up at the crack of dawn and head out to the city to catch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade live. Unfortunately, I failed to wake up on time and we watched the parade on NBC instead. The parade looked lovely and it would have been a great photo op if I had made it. Charice Pempengco was invited to participate and she sang a Celine Dion song (of course). Niki had called me early in the morning around 5am since she was with Ella and Andy in Dubai. I was groggy and sleepy but was very happy to hear a familiar voice again. Ella has resigned from the cruise ship and will be heading back to Manila. She has plans on flying to Illinois as soon as Andy has made the proper arrangements for them.

Preparations for dinner was chaotic! The turkey took 4-5 hours in the oven and Nana and Tita Chon made sure that it wouldn't burn or dry out and kept basting every 30 minutes. I set the dining table and tried to make everything look as festive as possible. We each took turns cooking our assigned dishes since the kitchen can only accomodate 2 people at a time. We had a great big feast! Aside from the turkey, we had pumpkin soup, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushroom and green bean casserole, corn and carrot nibblets, turkey stuffing and cornbread. Our dessert selection consisted of apple pie, belgian chocolate cheesecake, mudslide brownies and muffins (chocolate chip, blueberry and chocolate). Needless to say, we had a ton of leftover.

Omar and I were official photographers for the night and I taught him how to work the speedlight. All photos from last night can be seen here. Preview photos and video below:



Pardon my video. There's something wrong with my copy of iMovie. It won't allow me to add transitions, or text and keeps hanging.

Today, Nana and Tito Ans headed back to Syracuse (it's been decided that I won't be moving with them just yet, hooray!). Omar had a playdate with his friend Steven and the rest had work. I was left alone in the house and took the time to clean house! With Tito Ans and Nana in the house the past two weeks, the house was left in a mess! I laundered sheets and clothes and vacuumed everything from the floors to the couch! I tried to dust as much as I could and wipe everything down. It was exhausting but I loved it!

My aunt in the UK, Tita Baben , has bought herself a Flip Video! I look forward to seeing videos from the UK! Hooray!