Diary of a Dick Vet

I wish I could capture just how pretty this little tree is:

The plastic tree, the garland, and the ornamnents are from IKEA, and the lights are from Tesco’s. I haven’t found a suitable tree-topper yet, though, but I’ve got my eyes peeled for the perfect gold star. I wrapped up some of the presents I’m shipping home and placed them under the tree to finish off the look.

I will miss decorating the tree with my family this year, but having my own little tree in my room nearly makes up for it.

I’m going to Princes some time this week to finish my Christmas shopping, hopefully in the evening so I can see the lights that are decorating that part of Edinburgh. The German Market is in town, too, so I may end up being the (slightly) creepy 22-year-old riding the carousel. Totally worth it!

My friend Anik took some pictures from Thanksgiving dinner last night.

Preparing the meal

Potatoes and The Turkey

Part of the spread

The partially consumed feast

My pumpkin pie, which came out yellow!

Lydia brought party poppers. My vacuum cleaner will be busy today.

After-dinner entertainment

Now for Christmas!

Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated in the UK, which is a shame because it’s my favourite holiday. I’ve always enjoyed the nice meal with people you love without the fuss of carols or presents or egg dyeing. Plus, the food ain’t bad.

I made my first Thanksgiving dinner today. While my mother’s increbile skills in the kitchen never went unnoticed, I do have a new-found respect for how she keeps her head when preparing such a big meal. I assigned myself the tasks of (1) awesome host (2) pumpkin pie and (3) the turkey. I was most excited about the turkey, because it seemed like such a formidible task that if you survived it, it meant you really knew how to run a kitchen. Even with only two things to make, I was still running around the kitchen all morning. When everyone arrived, my rather large kitchen seemed to immediately shrink and I was tempted to go into “crazy-anxious” mode.

All-in-all, I think I survived. Perhaps it’s just the critic in me, but I didn’t make the perfect turkey. It was, however, consumed by everyone and enjoyed with our garlic and onion mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, turkey gravy, green bean casserole, two types of stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, rolls, and bottles of wine. Tara brought a bottle of champagne which was fun,  my pumpkin pie did not taste like any pumpkin pie I’ve ever eaten before, but was still pretty good, and Lydia brought mince pies. Simply because I was cravig it, I made homemade spiced apple cider with some cinnamon, cloves, and orange peel, and it was so delicious, I think I may make some more just for myself. It was a good addition to dinner. Between the eight of us, we made a really nice Thanksgiving away from home.

My friends took pictures which I will grab from them when I get the chance. I’m tired but pleased, although I’m trying not to think too much about all of the confetti I have to clean up tomorrow….

My blog is made of FAIL. I installed textpattern, the publisher I like and insisting on having, and it would not update my front page when I posted an entry. Presumably my tables were messed up, since I’ve never set up mySQL myself before, but I know nothin’ about the inner working of my blog’s code so I installed wordpress instead. Fingers crossed it itsn’t total FAIL. I would prefer textpattern, but at lease now I have a way of forcing my thoughts onto the world once again.

Now to change the template!