I may have mentioned this before. The night before Thanksgiving is usually my favorite day/evening of the year. It kick starts a four-day holiday (one I no longer have to spend catching up on late term papers), and I usually spend it hanging out with my two best friends. I only get to see Amanda once or twice a year, and even though Merrill and I lived in the same city, we never saw each other as often as we should have. So tradition became that Amanda would fly in and the three of us would go to The Earle Wednesday night for dinner and drinks. I could always count on a great evening!
Fortunately for me, Amanda sent this great photo of downtown Ann Arbor last night with all the Christmas lights up:
I really missed Merrill & Amanda this year, but Wednesday night wasn't a complete waste, even with Charles out of the country. I went over to the ASTRON guest house for turkey dinner with some other Americans, plus a Dutchman, a Brit and a couple Germans thrown in for good measure. Even though they didn't have all the exact ingredients or ideal cooking tools and utensils, kudos to Mike and Sera for pulling off an outstanding traditional Thanksgiving dinner! We had turkey, stuffing, gravy, wild rice, (far too many) mashed potatoes (as it should be), muffins, salad, and even pumpkin pie made with real pumpkin. I couldn't help but bounce around in my seat as I ate. And the fact that I felt as though I needed to undo a button on my pants after dinner wasn't just because of the pregnant belly.
Oh yeah - have I mentioned that I'm pregnant? :) We've been sending around so many emails making the happy announcement to everyone, I forgot to actually post it here officially. I'd also hoped to post ultrasound photos along with it, but those accidentally went with Charles to Helsinki. More on that over the next -- I almost said six months, but I guess I should say lifetime!
For now, I have some work to finish up and then it's off to the airport. Charles and I are headed to London for the remainder of the Thanksgiving Weekend with Michelle & Ali. Woo hoo!
For those of you getting together with friends and family today, to celebrate old or new traditions, have a great Thanksgiving!
Hadn't heard your wonderful news! That is fantastic! Drop me a line -- would love to catch up.
Gretchen
Posted by: Gretchen | November 24, 2006 at 06:36 AM