Our 7th Colorado Thanksgiving

Since Josh and I moved to Colorado from Michigan in January 2003 we have never been able to make it home to Michigan for Thanksgiving. Because many of our friends don't go to their respective "homes" either, we have come up with the tradition of "friends" Thanksgiving. Every year we celebrate the holiday at someone's house and each bring a passing dish to serve for Thanksgiving dinner. It's been my favorite traditions since moving to Colorado, and each year I appreciate my friends more and more. They are truly our *family* in Colorado and I am thankful for all of them.
This year there were 12 of us celebrating, including the first *baby* at Thanksgiving dinner, Jillian! You can see her crying in the photo above; I don't know what Russell is doing to her as she is usually very happy. We spent much of the evening trading off holding Jillian and filling up the beer pitcher with the Golden City Nut Brown from the kegerator.

I was excited that this year with the addition of the downstairs in our house, we would be able to set up a table large enough for all of us to sit down to dinner together. But since we don't have a large table, it was a series of small tables put together in our living room, and it turned out great! Each person in the group was able to bring a chair or table, tablecloth or napkin and we ended up with an eclectic mix of tables and chairs.
I credit Martha Stewart with the beautiful table decorations that are flowers in a glass filled with cranberries, very festive and colorful! I added the nuts myself :)

This year we had quite a feast with Jim doing the turkey which was very juicy and moist. We also had cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, homemade foccita bread, salad, avocado grapefruit salad, homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce and beats, pumpkin pie and mousse! I am sure I am missing something else good too :)
Jess took some great pics of the food.

No Friends Thanksgiving would be complete without a pack of dogs running around the house. This year there were 6 dogs, and the adult human to dog ratio was 1.8 to 1. The dogs enjoy the gatherings as much as we do, as they are all friends too! Heather was able to get a photo of all six of them together, it might top the human group photo.

It was such a wonderful day, beautiful and sunny Colorado with great friends and great food and I am thankful for each minute of it.