The kids lined up with their cousins, ready to dive in for the feast at Grandma’s!

I had such a lovely Thanksgiving Day! It was full of surprises. Here are the highlights:

As we went over the freeway and through the billboards to Grandma’s house (about an hour’s drive) I read aloud in the car the story pictured above. I’ve always used the picture book in past years. This year I was delighted to find out there’s more to the story, as I read the complete story, downloaded free from the Internet, since it’s in the public domain. The complete story is even more delightful! Louisa May never fails me with her wholesome stories of childhood. You can read it here or listen to it for free here.

We will be reading the complete version every year.

This was my first Thanksgiving ever that I’ve been able to feel satisfied with just one helping of food! This high-fat, low carb diet is working. I drank my dairy-free coconut milk egg nog as part of my Thanksgiving dinner, and that made it so I didn’t want more! The cauliflower “fauxtatoes” were delicious, even though dear husband thought I put in too much garlic. That’s OK, he had the regular mashed potatoes that my daughter whipped up to nosh on.

My daughter and her cousin surprised us with “whipped cream artistry” as they decorated the pies.  She made a stevia sweetened pumpkin pie for me. It didn’t quite turn out. There’s something about stevia and salt in the same recipe. The salt seems to stand out more with stevia in it. We will keep experimenting! Anyone know a good stevia-sweetened pumpkin pie recipe we can fix for Christmas? This ketogenic diet I am on doesn’t allow for honey. It might not even allow for pumpkin but I am not ready to give up pumpkin pie on the holidays!

Here’s a close-up:

Yum, dig in!

After pie, my son entertained with his rendition of Studio C’s Marco Polo episode. If you haven’t watched, you’ve got to, it’s so hilarious!