Yes, that was my lame attempt at alliteration.
Point being I had the best Thanksgiving vacation at home in Cleveland. It is always good to see my family and friends, but this year was particularly awesome. I feel like the longer I am a ‘real’ grown up the more I appreciate family traditions and down time.
Thanksgiving Eve
It is a tradition in my family to make pies on Thanksgiving Eve. We always make one apple pie and two pumpkin pies. My brother and I always make the apple pie and my sister makes the pumpkin pies. When we were younger, my mom did a lot of the work but now she supervises.


We use ‘My Perfect Apple Pie’ recipe every year. The book always falls open to the page and notice the cinnamon stained pages!


My brother, Thomas stirring the seasoned apples.

While Thomas stirred, I enjoyed a Christmas Ale. Clevelanders wait all year to enjoy this amazing brew as it is only available in November and December.

Even Marty wanted to help!

Finished product! It was so good I ate my piece before I could take a picture!
Thanksgiving Day
I woke up at 7:30 so that I could workout on my mom’s treadmill. Since I don’t really like treadmills I switched between power walking and jogging. I ‘burnt’ 382 calories.
Then I joined my family to watch the Macy’s Day Parade. It was great as it is every year but gosh did I feel old when I didn’t know half of the teeny boppers singing on the floats!
Afterwards, we all got ready to go to my aunt’s house. My dad is one of seven children and five of the children live in Cleveland. My aunt Clare usually has everyone over for Thanksgiving and my aunt Kate has everyone over for Christmas.

My brother Thomas and my sister Sarah getting excited to eat.
I only had one drink before dinner: a fabulously strong Cosmo made by my aunt Clare. She uses orange liquor and it makes all the difference.

My plate: roll, mashed turnips, mushroom stuffing, turkey, and green beans.
My uncle makes one of the turkeys in a fryer and it is AMAZING. I can never go back to eating regular turkey. It is just so moist and flavorful when it is fried. I had seconds of turkey and mashed potatoes.

I also had two rounds of salad. My dad made it! For the holidays, each family brings something. My dad is usually in charge of the salad or the vegetables. This year he out did himself. This was a spinach salad with tomatoes, hard boiled egg, crispy pancetta bits, goat cheese, and a balsamic dressing. SO GOOD.
Since I was at the kids table (I <3 the kids table) sitting next to some of my favorite girl cousins there was no wine bottle on the table. It was truly a healthy blessing in disguise.

This was the only glass of wine I had along with lots of ice water.
Afterwards, I had an unpictured piece of apple pie. I never felt too full. It was great!
Overall, it was a fabulous vacation. I got to spend time with my family. We went out to some great restaurants and even saw The Blind Side which I really enjoyed. I even went to a family birthday party where I got to spend time with my second cousin Sarah who I had gotten to know better at my cousin’s wedding in Denver this past summer. I was sad to go back to New York on Sunday and even sadder to go to work on Monday, but I am excited because this is a special celebration week and my sister is coming to New York on Friday. Christmas is just around the corner and then I will back in Cleveland.

Marty says see you soon!