Thanksgiving Dinner 2017

Our original plan for the Thanksgiving weekend was to do a staycation somewhere. Naaliw yata ang husband ko sa Victoria trip namin last August kaya gusto niyang umulit, pero dapat daw two nights na para hindi nakakapagod. Ang mga choices naming puntahan were Kelowna, Seattle (again!), Oregon, and Whistler. But after giving it much thought, I convinced him na huwag na lang. Hindi rin naman kasi biro ang gagastusin sa plano niya. We are scheduled to go back to California this November 4 to 14 na to celebrate Nathan's third birthday kaya sabi ko masyadong maraming gastos na. Buti at pumayag naman (as if may choice siya haha).

Around mid-September, my aunt invited us to join them for the Thanksgiving dinner on October 9. Ayun, problem solved. May gagawin na kami for the weekend lol. Ford was just a bit "sad" though because the dinner was on a Monday, may pasok kinabukasan. Technically kasi, second Monday of October talaga ang Thanksgiving day dito but Canadians may celebrate on any day of the long weekend. So pwedeng Sabado o Linggo.

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The dinner was at 6pm so we spend the afternoon at Guildford Mall muna. Then we went to Henlong Supermarket to buy some fish (haha, namalengke pa talaga). After that, we picked up the cake that I ordered from a homebased Pinay baker. I couldn't think of anything else to bring eh.

We arrived at Tita Che's house at 6:25pm. Maganda ang weather, buti hindi umulan.

Kami na lang pala ang inaantay so start na agad ng appetizer pagdating namin.

Trust my aunt to always have the best food presentation. Very impressive.

Instagram-worthy talaga. No filter needed.

This is the 4-in-1 cake that we brought. Haha, napadpad sa table ng appetizers.

Peechur peechur before eating.

Picture taken from Tita Che's Facebook account

And look at the long table that they set up para kasya kaming lahat. Bigla ko tulog na-feel ang essence ng Thanksgiving.

My aunt is currently into all things dainty. And she's started collecting pretty teacups since a few years back.

There were just 13 of us -- I, Ford, Nathan, Tita Che, Tito Harold, Angel (my cousin), Raf (Angel's husband), Blessi (my cousin), BF of Blessi (I forgot his name), Johnny (my cousin), Tita Bing (Tita Che's bestfriend), Rosabella (Tita Bing's daughter), and Allison (Tita Che's ward).

Very western ang dinner namin that night.

My cousin Angel cooked everything. She took her cooking skills from Tita Che. Too bad she forgot to bring out the soup from the basement!

This is my first Thanksgiving with a whole Turkey. Sumaya talaga ako, feel na feel ko.

The turkey was soooooo good (even the gravy)! I loved the pasta too kaso nga Ford and I are watching our carbs-intake.

Pero nang dessert time na, di na ako nakapagpigil sa cake. Ang tagal ko ng gustong tikman yun eh. Ang sarap nga grabe! Thankfully, hindi naman tumaas ang blood sugar ko (kasi nga turkey lang naman ang dinner). The chocolate cake was perfect, kung wala lang kaming diabetes eh oorder ako uli agad ng one whole cake at uubusin namin ni Ford.

Picture taken from Tita Che's Facebook account

I love nice table settings talaga. When we have our own place again, mag-iipon ako ng maraming gamit.

Picture taken from Tita Che's Facebook account

Thank you for having us, Tita Che and family!

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Oops, I would have to commend this little boy nga pala for being so behaved the whole time. Nakakain kami nang maayos ng daddy niya.

Dahil yan sa toys that Tito Harold always lends to him whenever we are at their house.

I am extra grateful to Tito Harold for being so nice to my son.

Nathan has loosen up na rin. Hindi na siya shy and intimidated to other people. Ayan nga oh, nagpapapicture na with his titas and titos.

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What are we grateful for this year?

• Our son is healthy and happy
• Our parents are ok (despite their respective health issues kasi syempre may mga edad na)
• We are living comfortably (thanks to Ford's new job!)
• We have gotten used to living here in Metro Vancouver (naka-adjust na kami kahit papano) 
• We were able to travel (California, Seattle, Victoria)
• We have more scheduled travels (California, Whistler, Philippines, etc)
• We've met new friends -- Juris and Tess and their families
• We've managed to maintain our friendships with our Edmonton family
• Though we got diagnosed with diabetes, at least our disease is manageable 

Ang dami-daming challenges as usual, pero kinakaya naman. My major wish for now is to have our own home so we can have a place to celebrate Thanksgiving day na. =)