Thanksgiving 2017...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. As for us, it was extremely nice. I was thankful that it happened to be a day off in Japan this year, for the kids. So that means I didn't have to send the boys to school in the morning and swing around and do after school pick ups during Thanksgiving, like I usually do every year. So that was very nice that my kids were off school. That means we could truly just be here at the house and spend Thanksgiving as a family. The one slight bummer thing... was that Noboru had to work that day.... he left the house around 1pm. And didn't get home until a little after 10pm. But we knew that ahead of time that he had work. And that was okay. I took this picture Wednesday evening. I made the pie crusts form scratch Wednesday during the day. And when the boys got home from school on Wednesday. We 3 whipped up our 2 pumpkin pies together. Noah cracked the eggs and mixed the things for one pie and Branden did the same for the other pie. As they baked the pies..they made the entire house smell like pumpkin pie. The house smelled amazing. And when they cooled, I popped them in the fridge until Thursday nights dinner. 

The final last thing that was cooked on Thanksgiving day... was the cornbread. Hot buttered cornbread is just the best. 

You can see it was still daylight. A quiet little low-key Thanksgiving dinner, just Branden, Noah and me. We ate around 3:30pm-ish. We had homemade mashed potatoes and gravy. We had stuffing. Cranberry sauce. Black olives. A big salad. The turkey. A very close to 16 pounder this year. We bought a smaller turkey this year since it was just us this year. Hot sliced up buttered cornbread. Green beans. 

Gobble gobble...

One of our two pies. The other was in the fridge.

My Thanksgiving plate this year. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, black olives and cranberry sauce and a slice of hot buttered cornbread. We did go around the table and said what each of us was thankful for this year. A tradition that we do every year. And we enjoyed good food. And afterwards the boys helped me clean up the kitchen. Thank goodness for paper plates and paper cups. ; ) Just made things tons easier. And thank goodness for dishwashers too. After dinner clean up. We all enjoyed some pumpkin pie. After 10 pm...when Noboru got home...he had a slice of pumpkin pie. I also sent him Thanksgiving pics via Line. And he enjoyed a turkey sandwich Friday afternoon with all the sides. : ) 

One of my turkey sandwiches. Everyone has their own way of making their leftover turkey sandwich. And this was how I made mine Friday afternoon. One slice with Miracle Whip. One slice of bakery bread with mustard for a bit of a bite. Crisp lettuce, salt and peppered tomato slices. And some good Italian provolone cheese. 

Some turkey breast, lightly salt and peppered. 

A little spoonful of Olive Garden's Italian dressing over the meat. 

A very small handful of Lay's chips.

Friday, I  made and then packed up Noah a nice big turkey sandwich in his lunch box for school. And for Branden, he took a nice big turkey sandwich. A slice of cornbread. And a slice of pumpkin pie, since kids in high school can take desserts. We will be having Thanksgiving dinner tonight/Saturday. I will make some more stuffing tonight. Another thing of gravy and I'll bake some more cornbread tonight too after the movies. Saturday/tonight will be our last night of Thanksgiving dinner. We may have a last final turkey sandwich on Sunday. But I think we'll be turkey'ed out by Sunday afternoon. I will be making something different for dinner Sunday night.

Anyway...anything new to add? Yep, today the kids and I are going to the movies. I went and bought the movie tickets yesterday already. We're going to see The new Justice League today at 12 noon. Noboru worked a night shift last night, so he's getting some much needed sleep today. My blog has been a little quiet...because I'm just enjoying my regular life. With my kids. With my husband. Just enjoying life. : ) Anyways...I better go jump in the shower right now. So we can get ready for the movies today. And we 4 will be going to see the new Star Wars in 2 weeks when it comes out. We're so excited for that. : ) Anyways, I better go jump in the shower, have a great weekend everyone. : )

11 pounds of mikan...

Saturday, November 11th. My doorbell rang. I was finishing with my packing because the kids and I were flying off to Guam the following day. As I was walking to the door, I thought. Hmm, what could it be? I didn't order anything. And I wasn't expecting any package, that I know of. Hmm. Anyway, I opened the door and the mailman greeted me. And I him. And he passed me this huge heavy box of fresh mikan. Fresh fruit is always such a wonderful gift to receive!

Addressed to me. From my mother in law, Noboru's mom. 

5 kg is 11 pounds for us Americans. 11 pounds of fresh super sweet mikan. So awesome!

An enormous amount. We still have over half the box left. I did call my MIL right away. But, I got the answering machine. I left her a message though. I said...thank you for the very thoughtful and wonderful gift. I did mention that Branden and Noah and I were flying to Guam for a few days and wouldn't be returning until such and such day. And the day after I arrived back in Japan. She called me and I talked to her and told her how much we have been enjoying our mikan. She was very happy to hear that. : ) With Thanksgiving coming up this week. It just makes me smile and happy. That with a good family on both sides...there is always reason to be thankful. : )