I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this year. I’m going to share with you simple ways I celebrated thanksgiving with my loved ones this year.
I invited me and my husband’s friends over for Thanksgiving, there were 6 of us in total. If you don’t know this yet, Fall is my absolute favorite season and I go all out with decor, ambiance, food, you name it..
My friends love aesthetics as much as I do which made the planning process all the more fun. I opted to get more candles to make our home feel even more inviting. We put up our Christmas decor everywhere but our kitchen as we were going to have our Thanksgiving dinner there and I still wanted it to feel cozy and very Autumn-ish where we were gathering.
Preparations
The day before and the morning of Thanksgiving was chaotic to say the least. I deep cleaned our home until midnight, old habits die hard I guess. If you’re African, you most likely know what I’m talking about. My sweet husband was there to help as well.
I made the desserts and some side dishes the night before because I knew I would have my hands full the next day. Olive oil cake as well as my favorite dessert, Flan.Making flan was nerve-racking because I only make it once a year, it had been so long and I really didn’t want to mess it up.
I also made deviled eggs, I had made those before so I wasn’t worried that they would turn out bad. I had deviled eggs for the first time in 2018 I believe, during the holidays. It was delicious. Knowing me, I was too nervous to ask the person who made it for the recipe so I just created my own and I’ve been using it since then. It’s safe to say my friends ate them all.
I also made Mac&cheese and I love when it turns out gooey. I had never made gravy before, well the “American version” it went well with the stuffing. I made corn bread and this time I glazed it with honey butter.
Yum!
In my country we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving and we most definitely don’t eat Turkey, so we left it out this year. Thankfully my friends aren’t big on Turkey either so I didn’t feel too guilty not preparing one. I made ham and a whole chicken instead.
We had a lot of food, our friends brought dessert as as well.
Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving dinner ended up better than my husband and I expected. It was so wholesome.
We gathered at the table, talked, laughed and ate. Everyone was truly so thankful that I went out of my way to prepare a Thanksgiving meal for them. My friend’s husband kept repeating that he didn’t deserve such good food, which I thought was really funny. We proceeded to enjoy our meal and continued chatting until we were all done.
The men proceeded to move to the living room to hang out and the ladies stayed in the kitchen and talked. From talking so much about books, we decided to start a book club that night. I’ve always wanted to be apart of one and I know this will be a great way to come together every month.
I forgot to mention the beautiful drinks my husband made us all. He made the men a s’mores old fashioned and the ladies a pretty red drink, which I have no idea what it was haha.
My friend made the best sweet potato pie I had ever had, and I’m not even exaggerating. It had so much flavor and it was so smooth. She served it warm with ice cream, it was my first time having it that way. I don’t think I’ll go back to eating it cold.
My other friend brought Moroccan mint tea, and little pastries. Everyone was impressed with just how good the tea was..
Towards the end of the night we played cards in the living room, UNO, to be specific.
The night ended with warm hugs and friendly goodbyes.
I would go through all that trouble again for the people I love.
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