Less Than a Week

I'm super excited. I can not even believe that the major holidays are here! Next week is Thanksgiving!! I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year. I can't remember hosting Thanksgiving before. I've hosted Christmas, but not Thanksgiving.

I got all fancy and created an evite to make sure my family did not make plans to go somewhere else for the big day. 

Two years ago we celebrated and my parents'. This was their first Thanksgiving in their new house. It was the first time we ate in their new dining room. The food was amazing {as always when Mamacita hosts}. It was also our first Thanksgiving since our move back from Seattle. Having the family Thanksgiving at the Parentals' was also a celebration of having our families together in the same town. 

I know I've mentioned this {maybe 100 times?}, but Daughter, Husband and I lived in the Seattle area for 7 years. That is seven Thanksgivings spent across the country from our extended family. While living in the Pacific Northwest, we sometimes felt our holidays were very quiet with just the three of us. I yearned for something that felt more formal. I wanted a reason to dress up. I wanted to feel like I was at a party.

So, in 2007 the three of us started our own Thanksgiving tradition. We made our Thanksgiving reservations at the Magianno's Restaurant. They have a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving meal (including turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes). It was wonderful. The food was great! And the atmosphere was festive. And we looked Mah-vah-lous.

Below are photos from 2008 and a single photo from 2007. (2007 is the one where D and I had long hair.)

We enjoyed that so much that we celebrated Thanksgiving (and D.'s birthday) at Magianno's the next two years (the last two Thanksgivings we had in Seattle). In the photos above (2007 & 2008), you'll see we are standing in front of Christmas decorations. The mall outside of the restaurant was usually beginning to decorate for Christmas and we usually found our way over to some of the greenery for our T-Day pics. 

Below is our last Thanksgiving in Seattle (2009). D. turned 20 that year. We did not know that we would be leaving the Evergreen state before our next Thanksgiving. 

Now that we are back in the same town as our extended family, we took up the "old" tradition of Thanksgiving hosted at home.  ~The first year we were at my parents (like I said). This felt very right and natural as we had spent so many Thanksgivings with them before our big move to WA. It was familiar and new at the same time.

This year I volunteered to coordinate the celebration. And, I yearned for a Magianno's feast. I've been loving our new traditions and yet missed our Seattle tradition too. 

So...guess what? We are having the Magianno feast! This year with a twist. We will pick up the feast and have the gathering at my house. The best of both worlds is about to happen.