Despite my nervousness of hosting 11 people for dinner, and possibly poisoning them due to having never cooked a turkey before (a 20+ lb one, at that), our first Thanksgiving was a smashing success (if I do say so myself). Of course, the turkey, which was supposed to take 5-6 hours to cook, was done in a mere 3 1/2 hours — at 2:30 in the afternoon, no less. But, my mom assured me that I hadn’t ruined Thanksgiving, and we let the bird sit, wrapped in foil, until we were ready to eat. I completely spaced and forgot to put out the cranberry sauce my mom had made — and, of course, I didn’t realize it was absent until dinner was already over. Ah, holidays.

We ate, we drank, and we ended the night by sending everyone home with some leftovers (not nearly as many as I feared we might have). My sister, her husband, and her husband’s brother stayed late, and we all sat by the fire and listened to Christmas songs (much to the boys dismay), as we attempted to finish the huge bottle of prosecco that was opened earlier in the evening. (We didn’t even come close.) On a whim, we decided to go to a (late!) 10pm showing of Catching Fire. It’s been ages since KC and I have seen a movie that late, and it felt like our college days. (Although the 1am hangover that followed, quickly assured us that we were no longer 22.)

Even though it was a bit of work to cook and host, and maybe just the tiniest bit stressful, I think our first Thanksgiving was quite a success. My family has a lot of traditions, and so does KC’s, but it’s nice to start some of our own, since KC and I are our own family now. I’m sure that there will be a lot of traditions that we’ll keep from both sides of our families, but I think this new Thanksgiving setup might just turn into a tradition of our own. And hey, cooking a giant turkey the second time around can’t be nearly as hard as the first, right?* Well, that’s what I’m telling myself for next year, anyway.

*And really, the hardest part was just lifting the dang thing, and that was all KC’s job. 😉