Days 20-24 of Thankfulness.

20. I am thankful we had a nice Thanksgiving at home, as a family of four (Toby is included in that). We were invited to our friends' home but decided to home. Brett was supposed to come over but he wasn't feeling well, so we had a relaxing day just as a family. I cooked my first turkey, and it turned out okay. I didn't know how to carve it so I probably wasted a lot of meat but it was edible.

Part of our meal, complete with our Evelyn's painted pumpkin as our center piece.

21. I am thankful that Dan's birthday is coming up next week, as I'm excited to give him his gifts. He already got to open some because I'm not great at waiting or surprises, but the rest he has to wait until his actual birthday to get.

22. I'm thankful that I now have an electric hand mixer. I bought one at Thanksgiving time last year but I bought the cheapest one and it started smoking when I was making mashed potatoes at a friend's get together. This one has survived two things so far -- mashed potatoes (which I overmashed, oops), and Granny's chocolate chip cookies.

23. I am thankful that Evelyn was able to help me make chocolate chip cookies yesterday. With our small oven and only one cake pan that fits into it, it was taking quite some time to cook them. I became impatient and made a giant bar out of the last half of the batter. When I make Dan's cake on Wednesday, I don't have to do it by hand - wahoo! I mean, I do, but at least it is electric...that's cool. Anyway, it was really sweet making cookies with Evelyn yesterday. She had fun dumping the flour, sugars, vanilla, and salt into the mixing bowl.

24. I am thankful I was able to go to my first Marine Corps birthday ball. The first year we were out here the ball was two or three days before my due date and I had no interest in going. Last year we didn't go, and instead stayed home to spend more family time together before Dan left. It was really neat to see the traditions in the ceremony, and to meet a lot of the guys Dan works with. (Pictures coming at a later date.)