Is it savoury?

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Yes, I know I'm a week late, but I have a baby...who is teething...and refusing to sleep, so my blogging takes a back burner at times.  Anyway, I celebrated my 2nd Thanksgiving in Derry and Isla's first Thanksgiving EVER.  Last year, Barry and I didn't have Thanksgiving dinner, instead opting to eat spaghetti because I was working on Thanksgiving.  But this year, we decided to just do it.  Barry cooked a lovely Thanksgiving dinner and I ate it...and Isla ate it and Barry's mom and dad ate it. 

Preparing for Thanksgiving dinner here, however, proved challenging!  Specifically, trying to find pumpkin!  I wanted pumpkin pie and even got my mom to send me her very special, secret recipe for pumpkin pie that I was never getting EVEN over her dead body, but I got it! However it was not to be!  Barry and I searched high and low across the town for canned pumpkin...or fresh pumpkin...any pumpkin would have done, however it did not come to pass.  No where had it.  In fact, most people looked at us as if we had four heads when we asked for it and it was usually followed by the question: "So, pumpkin pie?  Is it savoury? What is it?"  After I explained what it was, the facial expressions didn't change much...they still looked repulsed lol.  You just have to try it!  You'll like it citizens of Derry, I promise!!!

The "Is it savoury?" question was usually quickly followed by..."So, what is Thanksgiving anyway?"  And my response was..."well, you know...just give thanks and all that...and the harvest..."  Well, that was the best I could quickly get out and I know that sounds really dumb...I do!  NOW, before you say ANYTHING...yes, I do know what Thanksgiving is!  And, I could probably get out a very smart-sounding answer, but just taking the time to dive into my brain that deep to explain Thanksgiving just didn't appeal to me as I was searching for my sacred pumpkin.  Especially since Barry likes to turn it around and say, "Those poor Indians...didn't know what was coming...eating Thanksgiving dinner with you people before you stripped them of their land."  Come on!  Like I was there to personally do that!

After my lackluster Thanksgiving explanation, I was usually met with another question..."Now, Black Friday...is that part of Thanksgiving?"  Now, this I can explain!  And, I did...like this: "Oh, no not really...you see.  Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and it kind of marks the start of the Christmas season because all the shops are open really early with these great sales...like you can get laptops and stuff for like $99.  It's great!  Once I was at Target and these two women just got into this massive fight over a jacket that was marked down from $100 to $5.  Stores sometimes even open late Thanksgiving evening for the Black Friday deals.  It's called Black Friday because that's the day the stores come out of the red and into the black...meaning they turn a profit."  And then, I take a deep breath.  I do realize my explanation of Black Friday and the depth of my explanation of Black Friday compared to that of my explanation of Thanksgiving is sinful and it makes me and my people and my country look like idiots!  I do...and I have no defense except to say...I love a deal and I hate being fat.  Black Friday gives me deals...Thanksgiving makes me fat. 

Enjoy our Derry Thanksgiving pictures 2012:

Here's my little turkey in the depths of her first turkey coma.  She slept three hours after eating turkey.  If I had known she would succumb to turkey...I would have been putting it in her bottle all along!

Our dinner:

I didn't get to do any Black Friday shopping, however, I did do a little Black Friday Karoake...and...I was brillant.  Take a look...never mind the weirdo beside me...she's just a stalker.  I was in the throes of Rush Rush by Paula Abdul here:

And, the Sunday following Thanksgiving.  Barry and I took our little turkey to get her very first picture taken with Santa Clause.  Look at the shape of that...who's worse...Isla or Santa?

Pyjamas or Pajamas?

This past Friday, as part of BBC's charity, Children in Need, I hosted a Zumba Fitness party where people got sponsored to come to a Zumba class in their PJ's.  Now, here it is spelled, Pyjamas.  In America, it is spelled, Pajamas.  So, I've struggled on my daily Facebook posts on how exactly to spell it, instead settling for the universal and much more mature term: jammies. 

So, anyway, basically I got a bunch of people, including myself and my baby daughter (Barry refused) to go out in public wearing their snuggly jammies all for charity.  And, they so did...more than 50 men, women and children gave up their Friday night for charity. Not only did we go out in public in our jammies, but we did an hours worth of Zumba in them, too.  Here's the evidence:

Me and Isla

Barry and Isla.  Notice Barry's non-jammie get-up

Cupcake?

Isla hosted her first Halloween shin-dig this past Halloween by throwing what was to be a pumpkin-decorating party.  However, Tesco decided to not order enough pumpkins this year, so they ran out.  Perhaps we shouldn't have waited until October 30th to go shopping for pumpkins, but we did.  So, what was to be a pumpkin-decorating party turned in to a cupcake-decorating and scary mask- decorating party.

Let me give you a little math problem.  One house + 9 children between the ages of 8 months and 12 years old=Lesley with very high blood pressure at the mess made by 9 children and cupcake and mask making supplies. 

Anyway, it turned out to be a fun little afternoon where, yes, several messes were made, but, more importantly a bunch of little kiddos (technically it was Minnie Mouse, a Ninja, an Angel, a Police Officer, Snow White, Tigger and a few other kiddos) got to walk away with a teeny smile on their face mixed in with a little cupcake frosting...but, not to worry...the smiles and frosting were hid by their masks:)

Enjoy the picture story of this afternoon:

The before pic

Working on the cupcakes

A little mask decorating

More mask decorating

Baby Tigger

Cupcake anyone?

The after shots.  This blanket was thrown out.  There was more glitter, glue and sequins on it than on Liberace's finest cape.

Icing...destroyed.

After pic

Now, finish the joke:  So, an angel and Minnie Mouse walk into a bar...