California Thanksgiving

This year marked our first Thanksgiving spent in California.  Actually, our first Thanksgiving ever without one or both of our families.  Although we missed them, it was fun to host, fun to actually make food for it, and fun to spend it with friends.

Here was the spread for the evening.  We acquired this table (after much deliberation) through Craigslist 2 days before Thanksgiving, not a day too soon.  I absolutely love it.  I think it's beautiful and it was EXACTLY what I was looking for, but I love how practical it is.  And I love that our son no longer climbs to the top of our former bar-height chairs and falls off of them, as he was prone to doing, like, daily.  And I also love that he has--not once, knock on wood--tipped any of the chairs over and broken them, like he did on a semi-monthly basis with the last set.  Yes, our former table served us well for several years, and now it is serving someone else well, and such is the circle of our apartment-furniture life.  

Anyway, I had such a ball decorating.  I think hosting dinners may have to become a regular thing in our house.  It's just too much fun to set the table up fancy!

And we had a kiddie table, too.  So fun.

Now on to the people--the most important part!

Here was our group:  The Stevens, The Dartons, the Crowes, and Ryan's drummer friend, Elmo, who was a last minute addition.

Aren't they DAHLING.  I don't know if every kid is like this, but Jasper lights up when he sees things "just his size."  He loved sitting in his little chair at his little table, like a grown-up does.  :)

We had such a good time. The food was delicious.  It was pot-luck style, so not too much work for any one person, but everything everyone brought was fantastic.  And we had these awesome conversation starters I printed from online that were so cute and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

We had such fun having everyone over, celebrating such a special day with them.  And then the next day half of us simultaneously got sick with the stomach flu, but Thanksgiving itself was lovely. :)