Gobble Gobble Gobble, Thanksgiving 2015!!!

Thanksgiving 2015! Probably my most favorite holiday of the whole year. I love Thanksgiving, because it's not about presents or this or that. It's just about family and being thankful. It's a very family orientated holiday. A day centered around family and good food and good times! Who wouldn't love and look forward to a holiday like that! Hahaha. : ) Noboru was home by 2:30pm that day. The boys were off from school, Noah at 3pm and Bran by 3:30pm. So we had dinner ready and were eating around 4pm. Time management is my strong point. And I like to eat usually every night, as soon as everyone comes home and Thanksgiving was no exception. Hello Pilgrim boy and girl and turkey decoration nearest the Pilgrim boy. : )

This side of the table we had hot buttered dinner rolls, gravy, mashed potatoes, a delicious fresh mixed salad, a huge 24 pound turkey (11 point something kg, for you non Americans : )

Stuffing, cranberries, black olives are a must at Thanksgiving. Just very traditional American foods seen on a Thanksgiving table. We also had the American traditional pumpkin pies. We had 2 of them that I, freshly baked from scratch, with flaky butter crust and the whole shebang.

Everyone getting served some turkey first and then we passed our plates around, since stuffing was near my dad, he would fill it up for you and since mashed potatoes were on my side, I'd fill you up. Just tell me when I put enough on your plate though. : ) Noah filled every one's salads. Etc, we all had something near our side of the table. 

Both of the boys had told me, they were thinking deeply...all day long... while at school what to mention/pick when it was their turn to announce to the rest of us...what they were thankful for this year. That is an American tradition. You have to go around the table and say...what you are thankful for. 

This year, Branden said he was thankful his big tests were taken on Wednesday, the day before. And now he could rest and enjoy December and relax a bit during Christmas break. I thought Mr. Dimples had a very good...reason to be thankful. We all listened and shook our heads in agreement and chimed in a bit about that. Next went Noboru. Followed by my dad and then Noah and it ended with me. I love this tradition and it's something both Branden and Noah look forward to every year. After that, we said grace. And started dinner! Time to eat! Feast and enjoy!

My Thanksgiving 2015 plate...and you will never guess what I did this year! I forgot to make green beans! I had them and everything! @_@ Hahaha. Didn't even realize it until later that night. Oh well...I am human...it happens to the best of us. On my plate was, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing, black olives, cranberries, a fresh salad and a hot dinner roll (just throw the Costco dinner rolls into the toaster oven until warm and slightly golden on top and butter the tops!)

We ate and ate and talk and laughed. We are a pretty lively bunch!

Yep the placemat is right...that is the sound a turkey makes...gobble gobble gobble. : ) We all finished our supper with some homemade pumpkin pie with whip cream. The kids had theirs with a hot cocoa with a massive amount of whipped cream on top, us adults had ours with coffee. 

I will share 3 different pics of 3 different turkey sandwiches this year! Miracle Whip on 1 side and mustard on the other... for a bit of a bite. Lettuce, provolone and tomatoes with a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Turkey with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Everything must have flavor on our sandwiches. 

First turkey sandwich 2015 with some Lay's potato chips.

Branden going for pumpkin pie slice #2 of night. He's about to OD on some "Cool HWhip!" If you watch Family Guy, I am sure you caught the Stewie reference and are laughing. If not...nevermind! And lol, it's not even Cool Whip it's a ginormous can of whipped cream from Costco! : )

Turkey sandwich from Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Mustard on one side and Miracle Whip on the other side. Same insides as the last pic, but this time, I double cheese-d this sandwich. 

Provolone on the bottom and swiss on top!  The boys also took amazeballs sandwiches to school on Friday too! And sides. 

Saturdays turkey sandwich! Our last dinner and eating of the turkey finished Monday. By that time we were totally... turkey-ed out, by then. But on Saturday, We were still going strong! This time...I was thinking about...that fantastic turkey sandwich we all had while in Hawaii this summer, from Safeway and they had little packets of something they called "sub sauce" or something like that. But it was basically just Italian dressing, if you ask me. But, for whatever reason I remembered that on Saturday and I said...omg! I have some fantastic Italian dressing in the fridge right now. Let's use that! And so, I made a regular sandwich. Then I grabbed a small bowl and poured about a tsp, of this dressing in the bowl and then I just spooned it over my meat! 

Oh dear lord! This dressing on top of my meat! And just a tad of this for flavor! This was so good, I swear angels were singing! That's how good this sandwich was! 

This is not an overly sour dressing it's very balanced and the cheese in here is what makes this... the bomb. Like the bottle says...Where Others Skimp We Splurge! It's totally the best dressing ever. 

And yes, I did double cheese that sandwich. provolone and swiss. OMG! This sandwich was so good, my 2 boys saw mine and went right into the kitchen and made their own exactly like mine, that Saturday. Needless to say Thanksgiving was a wonderful day spent with good food and family. And all the leftovers! The one fantastic thing about Thanksgiving is....we don't have to cook for the entire weekend after that! Hahaha. : )  Anyway, that was how we spent Thanksgiving 2015 this year!

What's up right now? Well, we did decide when we are going to the movies to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As you know it opens worldwide, December 18th. This is probably the most anticipated movie of the decade at least! Anyway...we will go and see this movie...not on opening day. We figure it will be insanely crowded. The boys last day of school is December 22nd. And so we will be going to the movies on December 22nd, Tuesday. The boys get out of school more then likely by 11am or 12 noon. But we'll wait for Noboru to get out from work and go to the movie in the evening. Our nearest movie theater will be showing this movie, so we will be going to our nearest movie theater. However though...you know they make the world's worst popcorn. And world's most expensive popcorn. So, I will be popping salt and butter popcorn here at home. We will also be sneaking in candy or chocolate to the movie as well. But we will buy a caramel popcorn for the boys and drinks for us all... at the movies. That way we're not totally avoiding the concession stand there. LOL. Wish they had better prices or at least decent regular popcorn, but oh well. So, the date is set. We'll probably go and get our tickets and seats soon. I'm glad we're purposely delaying seeing it by a few days. That way, it will hopefully be way less crowded. Plus we'll be seeing it in English, so hopefully that cuts down on the crowd too.

Christmas presents have been arriving in the mail. I have them all hidden in my closet in my bedroom. Until I get the chance to wrap them up. How exciting.

Today's plan? Dinner tonight will be ginger pork, veggies, salad and rice. And today's plan, we will be baking peanut butter cookies from scratch. This coming week it will be Christmas cookies, but for now...peanut butter cookies. Have a lovely weekend! : ) 

Throwback Thursday...

Since it's December already and Christmas is almost upon us! Only 22 more days, you guys! I thought it would be cute to share one of our family's trips during the Christmas season to Tokyo Disneyland! See all the lovely Christmas-y decorations behind Noboru and the boys? : ) Anyway, this is a TBT from November 12th, 2007. 

Noah-chan about to eat some lunch! : ) 

Noboru and Bran enjoying a ride in Toon Town. Noah and I were meanwhile enjoying this ride together too.

Our flavored popcorn's. Honey, caramel or strawberry or coconut, most likely. : ) We always go with 3 buckets (though we have many, 7 maybe?). The seasonal buckets aren't really worth it..unless you will be surely going for Christmas for example, every year. Which is why the Stitch ones have been used a ton of times (the non seasonal ones on the right of the pic) and the Mr Potato Head regular ones, we have used twice so far and will use again for sures. And the Buzz regular one we have too. We would never buy a seasonal only one again...like we did with the Christmas boot on the left. Live and learn...as they say so...no worries. : ) 

Dancing reindeer...

Hi Mickey, Hi Minnie...

Our 2 year old (at the time) taking a nap...hahaha.

Noah woke up and had some nachos for a snack, Bran had some nachos too. We will be going to one of the Disney's in January here in Japan, next month. We have had our hotel reservation for 2 nights since October. So we have been quietly and patiently waiting. But yes...this January, we're going to go to one of them for 1 full day and then go back to the hotel room to snooze and we'll go the day before to the hotel too...the day before we hit the amusement park too. That way no long commute from the edge of Chiba. 

Hi family! : )

Tokyo Disneyland sure decorates like...nobodies business, am I right? : ) 

Two festive gingerbread cookies (vanilla and chocolate)

Noah munching a leg in this picture and holy cow...Bran munching on an arm, in another picture!

OMG....Gingy, what have they done to you?!!! : ) This was some hot apple cider, btw.

After a complete and thorough Gingy massacre... by 2 little boys : ), they shared a nice hot apple cider. And we went to ride a few more rides.

My gorgeous little angel face...

All those spectacular lights! And Bran sitting in Noah's seat, just goofing around, he didn't use a stroller at that age, haha.

Ugh huh...we all know what you 2 did to Gingy! Hahaha. You guys ate them! Ha! I'm kidding, I'm kidding, but yes they did eat them. : )

Stay warm kiddo. Man, that cold winter air... was sure cold!

 We were on our way to the Country Bear Jamboree. 

By this picture, Noah had long crashed dead asleep in his stroller, and I covered him with a nice thick fleece kids blanket. And I watched as Noboru and Bran rode around on the last ride of the night...the tea cups!

On our way out...to the car, wow...what a gorgeous Christmas tree Tokyo Disneyland has! : )

Just time for a quick little blurb this morning...

My hope was to get my Thanksgiving post up. And then of course followed by my TBT. However, I haven’t done either of those yet and with today’s schedule, it more then likely isn’t going to happen today, I don’t think. I mean it could...but if it did, even I’d be surprised, lol.

I have a hair appointment this morning at 9:30am. At my original hair salon. The pricey good place. Last month, I got the works, meaning a Japanese ionic thermal hair straightening (geeze what a long name) and a hair cut and a hair color. So, this time, for this month, I only really need the bare minimum and need a color only. So that’s what I am getting today, just a hair color. The following/next month (January) will be a cut and color both. But this time, I just need a color. Also, I am thinking of going darker. Why, do people always darken their hair in winter and lighten it in summer, hahaha funny...ever notice that? Perhaps people just want a more sun kissed look in summer or, I don’t know. Anyways. My hair is naturally chocolaty brown. However it’s been a coppery medium brown since May, maybe. Could even have been since March. Anyway, I am sort of feeling going 1 shade darker to what I have right now for sure....and I will let her know, I am going towards a chocolaty brown. Or perhaps, instead of gradual, I will just say this morning...chocolaty brown onegaishimasu! Meaning chocolaty brown please! : ) Either way....it will be a bunch browner and a step or two darker when I leave the salon today.

Also, since this semester is winding down and almost over....  every parent must attend a parent teacher conference at the local JHS. Choice is...you and teacher alone or you and the teacher and your child. I really hate the...he said...she said stuff. And I figure... if we are talking *about* Branden...he might as well hear it right exactly... as it’s said. Ne~ So, Noboru, myself and they will pull Bran from class when we get there. Our appointment is at 3pm today/this afternoon. Noah meanwhile gets out of elementary school at 3:45pm, so I already have told him, since their schools are a 2 minute walk from one another and the parking for both is at the same place...meaning the plaza parking lot. So, I told Noah, I will more then likely, be out by the time he gets out of school...HOWEVER, just in case...better to be safe then sorry....I will be leaving my car doors unlocked, so that way he can get inside, in case the meeting runs a little over. That way, he can just hop into mom’s car and no worries. Bran also gets out at 3:45pm today, so more then likely we will all be leaving the JHS at the same time.

Time in between? I am hoping my hair stylist can hurry and get me done and over with by 11am. That is the hope. That way I can run errands in between like...cruising myself to the cheap meat store and regular grocery store and whatnot. I’d also like to prep dinner... in the “in between time too” meaning after the hair appointment but before my parent teacher meeting. So...I hope, my hair appointment can just get done with.... as soon as possible. The bright side is...my hair seriously need a refresh of color anyways....and so at least I will look good at the meeting this afternoon. Noah’s marathon is on December 15th, most elementary schools here have running marathons in the winter. And it will be an observation day after that on Dec 15th too, so again...just nice to get the ol’ hair color knocked out of the way or scratched off the list...right now. : )

Those are the only things we have going this month. Today’s meeting at the JHS and Noah’s marathon on Dec 15th.

Oh and the lights are on our house, and they look gorgeous. : )

Also, one more thing...we are really having trouble deciding...should we go to see the new Star Wars, like the day after it opens...or should we wait a week? Because...I know Star Wars is being hyped in the US, I have American TV and see the commercials. And it’s equally being hyped here in Japan. I can’t imagine there will be a seat open on opening day. The only advantage we have is... we want to see it in English...and so will see it in 2D, so maybe less people will be in that particular theater, most people will catch it in 3D and dubbed into Japanese. However...I imagine it will still be super crowded. So we’re kind of debating...should we wait 1 day and see it the day after opening day or wait a whole week. That way...most people can get to see it and hopefully by that time...we can see it in a fairly uncrowded movie theater. Hmm. Decisions decisions. 

Anyway...I better motor....catch up with you all, hopefully tomorrow. : )  

My Dad's visit to Japan, November 2015...

My dad was here with us in Japan last week for 3 short nights and 4 days. He was here from last Tuesday, November 24th and he left Japan, the evening on Friday, November 27th. He brought us a bakers dozen of freshly baked Winchell's donuts.

Strawberry filled, blueberry filled, chocolate coconut (2 of those) and 1 regular coconut crunch and 2 lemon filled donuts. They were delicious and we all enjoyed and had those, the next morning for breakfast! Wednesday November 25th! Thank you for bringing these delicious donuts dad, it was a nice surprise! : )

3 more packs of the seasonal flavor of Twix, the gingerbread ones! Yumm!

A large Cost u less size of garlic salt. He knows how often I use this, haha. : ) 

And 2 packs of Kraft mac and cheese. We didn't really need my dad to bring anything with him this time, because Noah and I were just recently there. But...it was awesome that he did. Always appreciated though... especially since we really don't have access to this type a thing with living in Japan. 

This past July, I went to Jack in the Box in Guam, to look for a Jack head, these are quite popular in states like California or Hawaii, people put them on their car antennas. However they were all gone in July. Noboru had asked me to bring him back 1 in July, to no avail. Anyway, I had long forgotten about these. And so did Noboru. However, my dad's memory is razor sharp! A memory like an elephant! And he came bearing 3 Jack heads. We were really surprised. Noboru was so happy. So a really nice surprise. : ) 

The first night my dad was here, I had made chicken cutlet/katsu. And veggie and rice and whatnot. And the 5 of us enjoyed that Tuesday evening for dinner. Wednesday morning would be a busy morning. I woke up at 5:30am and came downstairs and started in on making the boys lunch. Filling Noah's thermos. Going upstairs, washing my face and getting the kids up and ready. After the boys left to school. My dad and I waited until 9am and then we headed to Costco. They open at 10am. Not sure if you can read this or not, it's a tad far away. Anyway, it is Reese's Peanut Butter cups (yum) a big huge bag regular price is 2,058 yen (about $20 US, holy crap that's expensive) but because they will be expiring November 30th. They are marked down to 598 yen. Oh heck yes! I mean...if it were bread or milk or meat...yikes especially meat! I would not buy nearly expired products to save money. Because...I don't want to drink sour milk or rotten meat, you know what I mean? However...it's *just* chocolate! And that price...and that savings. The chances of ever getting a deal this good again? Few and far between. I bought only 1 bag. But, I saw quite a few Japanese ladies with 2 and 3 of these big bags of Reese's in their carts. And you can't blame them...that was one heck of a deal. And again..it's not like we're talking about milk or meat. I'm fine with it! Best purchase that day! : ) 

I am sure they are long long gone now. 

This is that Australian margarine, it was on sale. 428 yen for 1kg of margarine. That is seriously...a shockingly great deal! What worries me though is...I hope they don't discontinue this...

They first started selling this in huge quantities, and now all they sell is this small amount. I worry that maybe nobody else is buying this, but me.... and so Costco Japan will phase this out? Gee, I hope I am wrong. It is healthier than the average margarine. And the price is like...holy crap cheap! @_@ If they take this off the market at Costco Japan, I will be truly disappointed. But...I did buy 1 of these just in case. 

I forgot to take my usual cart pic. I'm sorry about that. Pictured is, margarine, 4 kinds of sliced cheese, whipped cream for the pumpkin pies and potatoes, I was very disappointed in these potatoes in the box...I usually buy the huge Costco bag of potatoes and love those. But, I switched and bought the other type they carry, the ones in the box and out of all the potatoes in this box...4-5 of my potatoes had huge dead bugs inside them. Where as the bag of Costco potatoes maybe has 1 bug in the whole bag, sometimes not even 1. I will never buy this box of fresh potatoes again...I almost forgot, I also purchased a huge salad from Costco and dinner rolls. Oh and tortillas. 

These were purchased at Cainz/Besia near Costco Inzai, last Wednesday. I am only sharing these pics because of the adorable characters on the bottles. The Natchan has Yokai Watch characters on them. And the Lemon tea ones... one was Nemo characters and the other was Monsters Inc. characters. Here is Dory and Sully on this side...

Nemo and Mike on the other side of the same bottle...

Yep and C is for Crush and B is for Boo. : ) Again same bottle, just different side... So cute right. : )  Bran and Noah enjoyed these last week. While doing their homework 2 days last week. 

Huge honkin' bag of Reese's for super cheap! Yes, please. : ) Fantastic deal honestly. 

This pic was taken Thanksgiving day. Last Thursday! We have 3 packs of fresh baked bread from the bakery (so fresh they didn't even twist close the tops of the bag yet, at purchase). In Japan, bread comes in very small amounts of slices... compared to the US. So, that's why we needed 3 packs from the bakery. And there is a place in the small city nearest me that carries Lay's. And so every Thanksgiving we buy 2 bags of them. 

Wednesday, immediately after coming back from Costco, my dad and I baked homemade pumpkin pies from scratch. We made the butter crust and we talked and we talked. He cracked the eggs, whisked the Libby's easy pumpkin pie filling with the eggs, I added the pumpkin pie spice and I added the evaporated milk and he kept on whisking! We talked and laughed and it was probably one of my best memories from this trip... this time with my dad being here. 

Wednesday evening, we family of 5 went to Saizeriya. It's just... super basic Italian, it's a chain restaurant in Japan. We all ate, we all had unlimited drinks, from the drink bar. Sodas, coffee, iced teas, you name it. We really enjoyed dinner Wednesday. We all went home, took turns showering and watching TV. My dad loves the ID channel, and so do I. So we watched Investigation TV. Murder mysteries, forensic type shows. Thursday we had dinner ready and rarin' to go! Noboru got home just before the kids were to get off school... so he went and picked up the boys. And when they got home we all sat down to Thanksgiving dinner. Dinner was amazing. And will be... it's all short and sweet post, coming up next. And then Friday. The kids were at school, with leftover turkey sandwiches and sides. And Noboru was at work. And my dad and I went to the small city nearest my town, last Friday. And he bought a few things he wanted to take back to Guam with him. Noboru was home by 2:30pm. And the kids were both out of school by 3:45pm. And my dad's flight was at 8:10pm. Last Friday. 

It's always best to get to the airport a little earlier then later. That way, you're not in a mad rush. All 5 of us hopped in my car and we headed to the airport. We were there by 4:45pm. And in this picture, is a very blurry picture of my dad. My cell phone camera doesn't usually take such bad pictures, I was touching the wrong button and then when I clicked the right button it came out all blurry. And so...it was... what it was. : ) He checked in and he flew back to Guam, in first class. Flight benefits are something we appreciate so much as a family. And it keeps us...with many visits back and forth. Just something we never take for granted. : ) Anyway that was my dad's trip in a nut shell. It was short and sweet and really nice. : )

Throwback Thursday...

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!! Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday! And if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, that's A-okay, hope you are doing well too! We are a day ahead here, so it's Thanksgiving here! It's still morning 11am-ish. And both Bran and Noah are at their school today since it's not a "holiday" here in Japan. The pumpkin pies, I baked from scratch, last night are in the fridge as we speak (or type) The turkey is in the oven. I went to Costco yesterday with my dad to get last minute Thanksgiving things (like a big fresh mixed salad and Costco amount of potatoes, etc) It's cold and rainy and gray outside. But it's toasty warm in the house. Umm, what else...my dad's here, you already know that part. : ) We will be setting the dinner table soon, since we like to set it early. Not with food down, just with holiday place mats and pilgrims and stuff, you know what I mean, I hope. : )  Noboru is at work and should be home by 3pm. Noah gets out at 3pm. And Branden gets out at 3:30pm. So we should be having dinner around 4pm-ish tonight. We will be putting our Christmas lights on the house this weekend, so by this Sunday our house will be looking like this pic. This was a picture of our house here in Japan, taken in 2008. 

Happy holidays everyone! : )