Thanksgiving!

We had a delightful family celebration of Thanksgiving, marred only by some illness (Liesl got sick last night and needed urgent care today: pneumonia) and injury (Steve hurt his right foot a week ago and it's not improving). Despite that, it was good day together, with fun and (way too much) good food.

Sebastian and I started off the day by running in the Oregon Road Runners' Turkey Trot in Washington Park. It was a 4-mile out and back race, untimed, ending inside the zoo. The morning was clear and not too cold and we were excited/nervous to run in our first race together. At 8 am, Sebastian took off like a shot, weaving in and out of slower runners in front of him and basically running flat out for the first two (downhill) miles. I kept up with him - or he waited for me - but it was definitely faster than my usual pace. Then we hit the halfway mark and turned around to start back up the long hill; I was absolutely certain he would burn out and I would catch him. Instead, he kept going, steady and fast, all the way to the finish line. I couldn't catch him. My phone said that I averaged 8'34" miles, for 4.22 miles, and Sebastian finished 2-3 minutes ahead of me. It was a fantastic first race for him, and the first race in a really long time for me, and we both loved it.

After that we came home to rest, shower, take Liesl to the doctor (boo), play with Jasper, and get started on dinner preparations. Steve and I had considered going out to dinner (too expensive, no leftovers), picking up pre-made food from a grocery store or restaurant (quality of food for price?), or eating something different (but what about tradition?), and instead decided to make it all ourselves. Everything, because we're insane. So we had roast turkey (parts, not a whole), mashed potatoes, stuffing, homemade pretzel rolls, mashed sweet potatoes, wild rice stuffing, roasted carrots, green beans, green salad, gravy, cranberry sauce, apple pie, and cranberry pecan bread. We bought some mini-pumpkin pies. It was a feast; we considered putting the extra leaf in the table just to accommodate the food. It was delicious and delightful and we talked about what we were grateful for and ate far too much. The fridge groans with leftovers, and we are happy.