Our First Married Turkey Day

This Thanksgiving had a few firsts. Being that S. was d*eployed last thanksgiving, this was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. It was also the first thanksgiving that I was pregnant. Let me tell you cooking all day long and being pregnant...not so nice to the feet and joints. And lastly, it was the first thanksgiving being away from my mom, dad, and sisters. It wasn't the easiest because my family is very close, but I made it through only crying a few times.
Our dinner turned out very nicely though. S. invited a couple of the single guys that he works with over to eat with us. It was very nice being able to prepare thanksgiving dinner for all of us. Thankfully, I didn't have to prepare a turkey...my husband took care of that. He just had to fry a turkey this year. His plan was to use his uncles recipe. Well, he didn't get me a list of things he needed before I went to the grocery store to pick everything up. The day before he wanted to prepare this turkey he had done a 12 mile "march" (having to do it in under 3 hours makes it more of a run) with a 50 pound pack on his back and had crashed on the couch once he got home. I ended up having to call his uncle to get the recipe and venture out to pick everything up. To keep this long story a little shorter...I ended up having to go to 4 different grocery stores to find everything that was needed! It was worth it though, the turkey was delicious. The best part: it only took 30 minutes to fry and I didn't even have to do anything.
When I asked S. what time he had told the guys to come over, he said between 3 and 4. What? I would like the opinion of everyone on this subject. My family, for every holiday, has always gotten together at 2pm. Everybody always says they don't know what time...let me check with your gramma, let me check with your mother, but the time always always ends up being 2pm. That's just the way we do it. So we ended up eating around 4:30 this year, because the food is never ready on time whether it's your first time preparing it or not and no matter if you have everyone over at 2 or 4. That's just how it works out. Things worked out well. Dan and Andy even showed up with flowers and a chocolate cake. I thought that was very sweet...duh, you can't bring a pregnant women wine! It ended up being a very nice night. We sent lots of left overs home with the guys and they were very grateful saying if they hadn't come over they probably would have stayed home and ate cheerios. I'm so glad they shared Thanksgiving with us.