A Bounty of Food and Friendship for Thanksgiving

The Ginger Sisters had a wonderful Thanksgiving visiting family. It was Boca's first Thanksgiving and both girls' first taste of roasted turkey - I think it may be their favorite holiday yet! On Thursday morning I drove with my dad and the dogs to my aunt's house in Old Colorado City. The dogs were so excited that they whined most of the way, and the crawling traffic didn't help matters - if we slow down, surely we must be almost there! 

We arrived in time to see parts of The National Dog Show while we prepared our feast in the kitchen, with the dogs hovering hopefully underfoot. My favorite of the finalists was the Smooth Fox Terrier. Ruby and Boca wrestled with their cousins Hachi and Stevey and played in the backyard. We had the most beautiful weather - almost 70 degrees! A young couple, friends of my cousins, joined us and I was impressed with how well both girls did with meeting new people. 

My favorites from the meal were my roasted Brussels sprouts, the cabbage and carrot salad (a family tradition), the blackberry cobbler and brownies. All of the food was excellent, and the girls got leftover turkey in the rest of their meals during our visit, plus some to freeze and take home. My grandma exclaimed again what a good dog Boca is - she's loved her from the first meeting when she was still a "foster dog." We all relaxed on the sofa in true post-indulgence form and had a slumber party with four dogs on the bed. 

The next morning we took the dogs to a school yard to run around, but Ruby's freedom was short-lived as we discovered a gap in the fencing. Boca proved once again that her recall is reliable by bounding happily toward me each time I called. Later, my dad helped my aunt with a home-improvement project while I visited a friend and talked horses and dogs and writing over tea - all of my favorite things! It was a lovely holiday with lots of laughter, good conversation, and much-needed relaxation.