Thanksgiving 2010

The 2010 holiday season started with two very good meals. Our travel plans included a trip to the cities the weekend before Thanksgiving to celebrate with Mike's family and then hosting my family for the actual Thanksgiving day.
Thanksgiving traditions at Mike's family include:

Cooking a free range turkey on the grill:

Mushroom & sausage stuffing, smashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and sweet potato casserole:
The newbie addition this year was the delectable mushroom gravy. Mike and I were putting it on everything. It was delish!
Since Mike had to work prior to us traveling to the cities, John did most of the cooking so that dinner could be served shortly after our arrival. Prior to dinner there was lots of play time:
Sienna (3) really knows how to ham it up.
Sydnie (7 mo) was all smiles and drool.
The Stumme-Fudala family:
We spent 2 nights in the cities before heading back to Duluth to get ready to host my family for Thanksgiving dinner. My family came up the eve before Thanksgiving and we had a relaxing evening of catching up.
On Thanksgiving morning, Mikey headed to work (WFC was open 7-4) and I spent the day shopping with my mom & sister while my dad & brother stayed home to watch football. We had an epic day of shopping at a handful of stores and really hit the jackpot at Old Navy. Almost the entire store was 50% off and the store was not full of people. It was blissful. My mom bought me a beautiful cream colored pea coat & scarf for my birthday.

Once Mikey got home from work, he got to work making dinner.
He started homemade stuffing:
Free range chickens (shorter grilling time):
While Mikey tended to dinner, my family and I headed down to the Bentleyville Tour of Lights in Bayfront Park:

The Christenson Fam:
We bumped into the Murphy family who was up visiting their family in Cloquet:
We returned home to a wonderful spread:
Chicken & gravy, smashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, bread, veggies & dip and pie:
Mikey did a wonderful job with dinner and I couldn't feel more lucky to have such a good cook in the house! My mom brought some great pies & cheesecake for dessert.
We love hosting dinner parties at our house!!

My mom, sister and I have a Black Friday tradition of heading out to the shoppes before sunrise. Thanks to our shopping on Thanksgiving, there was much less pressure to find all the deals on Black Friday. Per usual, we had a great time and found some great deals.
While we shopped, my mom asked my dad & brother to put the egg bake & cranberry coffee cake she made in the oven. We arrived home to a great brunch. Unfortunately, Mike had to work so he missed out although I don't think he missed the shopping:) The coffee cake will most likely become a Black Friday tradition. It was delish!
We really enjoyed our time with both of our families. Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday!!
It left us both full of smiles: