Our Thanksgiving Week

‘Twas a great week with family.

This year for Thanksgiving, we hosted and had family come to stay with us. It was a very eventful week and Dylan and I were so thrilled to start some of our own traditions for the first time - things like shooting pumpkins, cutting down trees and I even got to help prep my first turkey. The whole week was so beautiful.

Wednesday Night Dinner

We started off our week with a classy dinner at Coastal Fish Company just a few minutes from our house. It was our first time there and it’s safe to say this place is going on my “Favorites” list - and I don’t eat seafood! I got this butternut squash ravioli appetizer and I almost cried, it was so good. Then I ordered their fried chicken and what the heck.. it was literally like Gordon Ramsey was back there in the kitchen. And of course we finished it all off with a skillet cookie.

The Pumpkin Shootout

One of my favorite moments of the week was when Dylan brought out the BB gun.. and here is our first family tradition. I’ve decided that every year on Thanksgiving Day, we’ll haul all of the pumpkins into the backyard and give them one final ‘huzzah’ before getting composted. Dylan drew up some targets and we all had a blast.

Burning off Thanksgiving carbs

Dylans newest favorite thing ever - rock climbing. We fell in love with High Point here in memphis and we decided to take his sister and her fiance there with us on Friday afternoon. Its a total blast and definitely the best way to burn some of those extra Thanksgiving calories.

My very first fresh tree.

I knew that I wanted a real tree this year. So I made it a point to drag everyone with me to a nearby tree farm because if I’m going to get a real tree, then I have to cut it down as well. So we went over to Priddy Farms, walked quite a few circles before I finally decided on this guy. Dylan chopped it down and we hauled it home. I was so excited to get it all setup in our dining room.

And the beginning of winter.

And to finish off our Thanksgiving week, Dylan’s parents bought us all tickets to the Botanical Garden’s Winter Walk. It was so amazing. The whole main garden was lit up in the most magical ways and they even had a fake snow machine - as if they knew how much I missed the north and those snowy nights. At the end of the walk was a yard with firepits and they even had this little food truck selling warm cocktails and s’mores kits in a baggie. It was beautiful and such a great start to the winter season.