Thanksgiving in the Heart of America

For Thanksgiving, nothing beats sitting around the table with family and close friends. This year, was the first time ever I wasn't home for the holidays, and I'll admit I missed you guys terribly. But if I couldn't be in Texas with loved ones, my Thanksgiving was probably the next best thing.

One of the members of the Habitat For Humanity board of directors opened up their home for us to cook and eat. It was a big, beautiful building with lots of natural light streaming in the windows and plenty of wooden beams and roughly hewn stone that gave the place a rustic, homey feeling. There was even an old-fashioned log-burning fireplace and mounted animal heads on the walls.









The best part, however, was probably the view of the mountains. The house was situated atop a hill, allowing for a spectacular 360-degree vista of the wide-open Wyoming skies. The weather was phenomenal, a cool 60-degrees after several freezing mornings. The landscape turned even more striking as the sunset, turning the white clouds a cotton candy pink against an inky purple expanse.











Nicole, an AmeriCorps volunteer who works with Habitat For Humanity, hosted and cooked most of the meal, but we helped out a little with the side dishes. Our menu consisted of the following: roast turkey with gravy and stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, beet salad, roasted assorted vegetables, butternut squash, house salad, and rolls.















My favorite part of the meal were the appetizers that we munched on while we waited. That menu included: dark chocolate-covered waffles, sugar cookies with homemade whipped icing, assorted cheeses and crackers, and fruit with caramel dip.









Finally, for dessert, we had: tres leches cupcakes, pecan pie, puff pastry with raspberries and homemade whipped cream.







After dinner, we lounged about in varying states of food coma. The house had a pool table upstairs, and the rest of us napped on the couches or played card games. The host also had a 13-year-old labrador named Abby who was blind, deaf, and slightly crippled, so we had fun loving on her as well.









Though I couldn't be in Texas for the holidays, it was nice to have a different Thanksgiving experience in the heart of America. While it wasn't home, it sure felt homey and warm, and there was plenty of food, so who am I to complain?

I promise my time here has been more than just eating and hanging out; I've done a lot of hard work too. Hopefully I'll have some time to post those pictures in the near future, but I also wanted the opportunity to wish my readers a very happy Thanksgiving!