Scenes From Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving itself was a whirlwind; Sean had to work the day before and the day after, so we did a quick round trip to his parents' house. I'm guessing we had fun, because I mostly forgot to take any pictures of anything! My mother-in-law made a turkey of only legs (this is a thing you can buy, apparently!), delicious ham and with my sister-in-law, a great side dish of sweet potatoes and apples.

I made roasted brussels sprouts and we enjoyed pecan pie and apple pie topped with cousin Emily's hand-whipped cream. So good!

The Kennedys have a very dinner party-style Thanksgiving that starts with cheese and champagne, for which I am grateful.

And we always start with a salad. Not very traditional, but I love it. Elizabeth made this salad with sliced pears, walnuts and blue cheese.

We had fun leading up to the main event watching Friends' Thanksgiving episodes on Netflix and now I'm totally down the Friends rabbit hole. I can recite most episodes, but I didn't remember the last two seasons very well, so now I'm working on that.

Although I definitely did indulge in a little Black Friday shopping, I saved most of my energy for Small Business Saturday. I don't have to tell you that Small Business Saturday feeds a boost into your local economy; the community members who own and work at these stores also spend their money around the area, pay taxes, send their kids to local schools and patronize local restaurants. If they have more money, we all benefit. /rant.

If you're in the Hampton Roads area and would like to support some local small shops, here were my stops in Norfolk on Saturday: 

• Samla: Fresh florals, home goods, beauty items, jewelry and accessories, and stationary.
• Table Seven: An entire store devoted to tabletop antiques and hostess gear. My dream store!
• Bridget's: I've never walked out of Bridget's empty-handed. It's an amazing gift shop with art items, stationary, accessories, baby gifts, an AWESOME jewelry selection and all the most adorable knicknacks you never knew you needed.
• A. Dodson's: A local institution among gift shops, A. Dodson's has three locations. I especially love to pop in at the holidays when their selection of decor and ornaments is full of German glass glitter-covered I-have-to-have-its.
• Le Marche: These importers of fine French gifts and furniture also have the best ornament game in town. I can never resist picking up some super unique ornament when I'm there; they even had ornaments of blue crabs in cages!
• Kitsch: Kitsch is a local art and craft consignment store that showcases the very best Virginia has to offer. I especially love the felt flowers, stuffed Day of the Dead mobiles and great prints from artists across the state.