How was your Thanksgiving? Whenever November rolls around, I get reflective. I reflect on what I did this past year and what I want to achieve in the coming year. I think about how Thanksgiving means family, friends, love, and food. I think about the time my good friend Merle invited me to her home to celebrate with her family. I felt so loved and welcomed. Now that I have a home and a family of my own, I like being able to invite friends over to my home on this holiday. As the saying goes, friends are the family we choose to have in our lives.
Cheers! 
Killing time before the guests come. 
The men 
The ladies
So–even though I am not a particularly good cook, I like making the effort to get our loved ones together and enjoy a moment together. The other benefit of hosting this meal is that it gets me (and my husband) to clean the house a bit so it is a little bit presentable for our guests. We started the day off by cheering on my son in the rain at the Big Island Road Runners annual Turkey Trot.
Quiet moment admiring rainy Hilo bay. 
Steven and Sam
Then I came home and started cooking. I made some stuffing, ham, and roasted a hunk of beef. My husband brought home a 17-pound ribeye roast that I did not want to ruin. I used a temperature probe to keep track of the progress of the cooking so that I did not overcook it. I ordered a turkey package from Zippy’s so I didn’t have to worry too much about the turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. I just heated the turkey up in the oven to heat and brown it and then just had to heat up the other things when we were ready to serve dinner. My friends all brought so much food and we loved our Friendsgiving feast that included much more than turkey. We loved our fried kole and oama, Chinese-style mullet, and assorted poke, along with all kinds of other yummy dishes.
We had food, friends, and so much fun together this evening.
The gang. 
The seniors!
Our next Thanksgiving will look so different when the seniors are off to college. I wonder what Aaron and I will do in a few years when both of our children might be away at college somewhere. We will find out soon. Living Hilo Style.
Living Hilo Style 