Left Coast Winters: Left Coast Thanksgiving 2014

Ever since we moved to Washington, we have celebrated a Left Coast Thanksgiving. And each year we have been blessed with having other fellow Left Coasters join us. In 2009, our guests were cousins Mike and Sallee Pond (who recently moved to Spokane, WA), their slobbery furballs Mel and Ruby, and cousin Rebecca and her daughter Malena (2.5 yo at the time).

The whole gang

Mel and Ruby (Newfoundlands)

Our feast that year.

Malena Powell (2.5 yo)

In 2010, we added and lost guests. Rebecca and Malena were unable to join us, and Mike and Sallee left the dogs at home (which was now in Salem, OR), but we added our good friend Adam. Adam was living with us at the time as he transitioned from living in TX to working and living here at Microsoft.

In 2011, we had all of the same 2010 players, but now Adam's family was with us too. Amy and Wesley moved up to Woodinville in February of of 2011, and Adam's Aunt Roberta even joined us. We had a good time prepping the food with everybody and enjoying some traditional Thanksgiving items, even if Mike and Sallee don't eat meat anymore :-P

Amy, Berta, Mike and Wesley rolling out some dinner rolls.

2011's Feast

All of the usual items... green bean casserole, stuffing,
sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, turkey, and our
newest addition - Salmon (very PNW of us).

Now 2012 brought the addition of Sarah to the group, and the return of cousins Rebecca and Malena. We held a late Thanksgiving, celebrating a week late. This allowed for cheaper travel for everyone who wasn't "local". Mike and Sallee struck a super cheap train ride on Amtrak, and Rebecca and Malena got a good price on airfare from CO. It was fun having two little girls in the house. Malena was very good with Sarah. Since this was a late Thanksgiving, Adam and his family were not celebrating with us.

Malena sampling the rolls, and all of us gathered around the dinner table.

Sarah enjoying a bedtime story as read by cousin Malena
(her own special version of a story, since she doesn't really read yet).

Malena was good enough to sit still while I braided her hair, and THEN turned silly!

2013 was back to an original celebration day, with some returning players (Mike and Sallee of course), but lots of newbies. Mike's brother Raphael now lives in the Portland area, with Mike's parents (Ed and Laurie were unable to make the visit due to her work schedule). We added some international attendees, Brad, Helen and Lucas - Australians who live here now (Brad is also a Microsoft employee). Newlyweds Chad and Terhi also joined us. Adam and family moved back to TX in August, and Rebecca and Malena were unavailable. Our menu was quite eclectic as well. Still had some of our traditional favs - turkey, salmon, rolls, various sides, and an apple pie from Maltby Cafe, but we added a Bacon Explosion Log (our second, as we'd made a "test" one a couple of weeks before). There were also some Vegan items to appeal to Brad (the Aussie vegan).

Megan and Chad carving the turkey.

Brad and Lucas admiring the table FULL of food.

Dan preparing to slice into our homemade Bacon Explosion Log.

You'd think we didn't have enough room at the table, not so...

Helen and Lucas enjoying dinner.

Now on to this year's Left Coast Thanksgiving extravaganza. We celebrated two Thanksgivings, a low key one with Brad, Helen and Lucas, and another one a week late this year (Dec 5-7), again to make travel cheaper/easier. Dan was working (on call) Thanksgiving week, so it worked out in everybody's favor. Dan's Uncle Ed and Aunt Laurie were able to join us, and Raphe was there again (this time with a date). Rebecca and Malena flew in from Denver, and Ginny (Ed and Laurie's daughter), Efstratios and baby Elayna flew in from NYC. We missed having Mike and Sallee with us (our first Left Coast Thanksgiving without them). During a conversation with Efstratios about "preserving" our memories of our daughters, we discussed different forms of doing so - a Facebook account, an email address, a website.... and then Meg realized we should actually use/start a blog. Other folks we know have successfully been maintaining blogs to keep their family and friends up-to-date with their adventures. So here we are, the FIRST blog entry of "Left Coast Winters".