Thankful Thanksgiving is Over!

On Thursday afternoon, I left work a little early (with permission) to finish the last minute shopping, cooking, baking and decorating for my big dinner. There were butterflies in my stomach the whole time. 

My lovely friend, Neave, was luckily on-island for the event, and proved to be an incredible co-host. She cooked, mashed potatoes, cleaned and washed dishes, and generally just kept me alive and sane. I don't know how I would have coped without her!

My final project was making these place settings. This was a pretty simple task, as I'd had my guest list finalized for days, and had printed out the names earlier in the day. 

 

I also made some last-minute additions to my centerpiece. The herbs are fresh from Kazuno's garden. Aren't they lovely? This pumpkin has been around since early October but is holding up really well. Maybe the candle wax sealed the freshness? :) 

At around 6 p.m., the mad flurry of preparation died down and my apartment was actually pretty peaceful. Neave was putting the finishing touches on the cranberry sauce and made me go take a shower and get ready (bless her). The lamp and candle light glowed happily, Christmas music played happily, and Neave and I breated a sigh of relief. 

Then, the guests arrived. Chaos ensued as the bell rang, rain started to pour, guests arrived dripping, some friends tried to cook their food last minute, people started to mill around my smallish apartment, and I tried to figure out what to do with allll the amazing food the guests were bringing. 

Kazuno supervised the cooking of our turkey, Timu. He was delicious. 

Neave was, once again, a God-send. She saw everything that needed to happen and asked me about it, made sure people had pre-dinner drinks, and then ushered everyone to the table to start the meal.  As I asked everyone to sit, I realized that I, as hostess, should give some sort of speech or toast or something to get started. A bit shaken by the chaos and the sheer number of my guests, I mumbled something about being thankful and then ran off. Note to self: prepare for that moment in advance, next time!

 Overall, I think the dinner was a success. Once everyone was seated and happily passing food around, conversation started to flow. I had carefully planned the seating so that people were sitting next to others they knew or who I thought they should know, and I am pretty proud of how things turned out. :) There was PLENTY of food, as well. Everyone pitched in with a side or a drink, and my fridge is still packed to the brim! AND I made everyone take stuff home!

In the end I was only slightly exhausted but incredibly happy, and since everyone pitched in to help clean up (especially Kazuno and her sister Rino: my heroes.), I was able to fall into bed around midnight.

It was such a fun process to plan this whole party from start to finish, to brainstorm with my friends, and to watch it all happen as if by magic. I had the best time, but I am so glad it's finished! :) Yesterday I cleaned and re-arranged some more so my apartment is almost back to normal.

Now to start planning for Christmas... Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Prep

Happy Thanksgiving, family and friends!

I'm hosting a small Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment this year. I've been trying to keep the numbers down, but I still had to borrow two tables from my school and buy some more dishes. 

 Luckily, my dish set is sold at the 100 yen ($1) store. Win! 

I've been prepping all week. Shopping, deep cleaning, making turkey cookies. 

 Last night I did some more prep cooking and baking. I made a pumpkin pie, prepared my candied yams, baked some more cookies, and cooked mac & cheese... just for fun. :) 

I also set up my table. Now all I need is the silverware and the food! 

Oh, yes, and the guests. :)

Last night I was so excited I couldn't sleep. Tonight's the big night. *Deep breath* Here goes!

It's my first grown-up dinner party. What do you think?

 Click this link for pictures of the turkey prep on Kazuno's blog. They're kinda hilarious.