I call it my first because although my husband and I have been married over a year now, we spent every holiday as newlyweds apart last year while he was in bootcamp. Also because we did not travel halfway across the country to go home for Thanksgiving but rather spent it by ourselves, leaving me with the responsibility of making my first Thanksgiving dinner... and lastly because I finally did my first ever 5k in my first ever Turkey Trot.
There were a lot of "firsts" in that paragraph; hence, "first Thanksgiving".
The Turkey Trot was a lot of fun and I recommend it to anyone who has never participated. Though I must admit--it wasn't exactly how I expected.
I've been a runner for years, and perhaps I was naive but when I'm told "three mile run" I think of running for three miles. However other non-runners translated it as "three miles--just get there." I spent weeks preceding the day running 3-5 miles to prepare for what I apparently thought would be the equivalent to a Tour de France only on foot and well, in Texas. I found it funny, even during the race, that I paid $23 to wake up early on a day with things to do and run in a temperature that was so cold I couldn't get my fingers to operate the safety pins they give you to attach your number to your shirt. But I was there to do my best and go home. And so it kind of blows my mind that there were people who just walked it. I'm not even talking about a speed-walk, I'm talking about a I'm-walking-to-the-kitchen-because-the-oven-is-beeping walk. Runners were the absolute minority. The difficulty of dodging the massive, slow-moving crowd was by far the greatest challenge: greater than running three miles, being thirsty, and freezing because my chihuahua regurgitated on my husband's sweatshirt and I gave him mine so he wouldn't be standing in the cold. Sorry, but I trained for this! I made the finish line in 40.5 minutes after an approximate six minute bathroom break at 711, so you do the math.
What I probably loved most about the entire experience was (definitely my new tshirt and) the feel of the day. For the first time since I moved to Florida six years ago, it was Thanksgiving and it actually felt like November. The sky was overcast with occasional drops of ice cold rain. Countless leaves on the ground that swirl at your feet and hit the windshield while you're driving in the car. And the cold! It was colder than Florida in January. The course of the run went through a residential area, so while we were running we could smell the aromas of Thanksgiving dinners in the making throughout downtown.
When we got home my husband built a fire that he kept going all day, while I turned on some jazz, lit candles around the house (both things that I have been obsessed with this fall), and began preparing my first, 13.5lb turkey. Which, by the way, there was absolutely nothing to. A couple minutes of preparation (and the time it took for me and my husband to laugh at the dead, naked bird as we bounced it up and down in the sink singing "IMA TURKEY") and five hours in the oven yielded a golden, thoroughly cooked, juicy turkey with a slightly crusty skin. It was basically the easiest thing I've ever done in my life, though the dramatization of that statement was most likely influenced by the unforeseeable nonexistent obstacles and lack of expected difficulties associated with the task.
In one word, cinch.
And of course I also made mashed potatoes with gravy, baked ham, corn, stuffing, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, and homemade pecan pie. If that sounds like a lot of food for two people... it's only because it was.
Then my husband and I watched ThanksKilling, which was a tasteless low budget "horror" about a 500 year old turkey who kills white people. I don't recommend it unless you're one of those people who love the occasional tacky, low budget horror (such as myself).
Andddd the next day we took these pictures! =)
I am thankful for... ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!!! But mainly my husband, our puppy, my brother and parents, and the GLORIOUS fact that we are only in Texas for three years and not longer! =)
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