Willa's First Thanksgiving

Willa's first Thanksgiving was spent here at home.  My mom came to visit the week before while Jeremy was overseas on a business trip, and then my dad and brother came the day before Thanksgiving to spend the rest of the holiday week with me.  Jeremy was unexpectedly called away for a family emergency for the week of Thanksgiving, so I am grateful that my family was already planning to come so that Willa and I didn't have to be alone.  We definitely missed him, but we were able to have a good time.

I was in charge of the meal for the first time, so I had to make sure I planned closely to cover all the bases.  I made the pies the day before, and even decided to get a little fancy:

It says "thanks." It was delicious.

My dad and I decided to try to tackle smoking the turkey, which Jeremy usually does very well.  While it cooked for six hours, I enjoyed sharing the Macy's parade with Willa.

She was transfixed by the marching bands!

I shot a little bit of video of her watching it too.  She went BANANAS for the Sesame Street float, and got the closest to clapping that she ever had!

After all day in the smoker and lots of care and attention from my dad, the turkey was hot and ready and pretty fantastic looking:

Yum!

We loved it, but I think Willa was thrown off by the new texture of it.  Either way she looked pretty cute eating it!

Maybe next year she'll have a taste for it!

Unfortunately the timing of dinner was right during her naptime, so she (and I) missed the rest of the meal.  Oh well, leftovers are just as tasty!  We missed Daddy, but we appreciated our time with family, and were glad that he could be there for his parents. 

Next stop, Christmas!