Best Thanksgiving ever?

Absolutely.

Not only did I feel more well-rested on this break than ever before, but the food was amazing. Literally everything I ate last week was delicious. The minor exception being "grilled" chicken, which was actually "caught fire in the grill" chicken. Love you, Mom!

For Thanksgiving, we went to my Auntie Erin and Uncle Tim's house for one of, if not the, best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever eaten. This post is heavy on pictures, so enjoy. They show the food better than I could ever describe.

Here's Uncle Tim serving the turkey. He was responsible for most of the food, but Auntie Erin, who's sitting next to him, cooked her fair share. The two should open a restaurant or write a cookbook. Trust me, they're good.

Here's Nana, Dad and Pat passing around the turkey.

And here's mom with some mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.

Also, the eyeballs made an appearance. It wouldn't be a Kavanaugh dinner without them. I believe they are a kind of creamed onions, but really, I've never been able to bring myself to try them. Uncle Tim used to pay me $1 to try exotic foods like whipped cream and shrimp cocktail sauce. If he were to, ahem, up the ante a few bucks, I may consider trying some of the eyeballs, but until then, I'll just keep passing them around the table.

Here's my finished plate, with none of the foods touching since I'm weird like that. The squash, turkey and sweet potatoes must stay separated, but the mashed potatoes and corn are allowed, even encouraged, to touch. I'm made fun of at every holiday, but they just don't understand.

Then came the desserts. Oh, the desserts. My Nana made four, count them one, two, three, four, desserts. Apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and lemon cake. The lemon cake is made specifically for Patrick, but I was able to steal a few slices...and a slice of apple pie...and a slice of the pumpkin pie. Yes, I ate three desserts after a seriously filling dinner. I know you're judging me, but once you see the pictures, I think you'll understand.

After gushing over the food, we really had a good time for ourselves. Patrick and Papa definitely share some goofy genes. Those are salt and pepper shakers on Pat's face and, yes, that's a knife in Papa's mouth if you can't tell.

Some of us are relatively normal. Or maybe we're just better at hiding the crazy.

For the rest of the evening, Pat and Uncle Tim had a bit of a jam session. Pat's been taking a guitar class at school and has really gotten much better since the last time I was home. He tried to teach me a few chords, but I don't think I was made to be musical.

After we left the Kavanaugh dinner, we went to the second show, which was dessert at my Uncle Ray and Auntie Kristen's house. I didn't take nearly as many pictures because I was having way too much fun playing with my cousins. Pat and my cousin Ryan played video games all night, of course.

My cousin Kate and I played Barbies with her younger cousin, also named Meghan. Barbies are always fun. I don't care how old I get, I will always enjoy changing their outfits, playing with their hair and searching for the ever elusive matching pink heel. It was funny to see the aftermath of a few creative decisions that Kate made a few years back. Some of the Barbies had a little work done, to say the least. Yikes.

Then, on Saturday night, we headed up to Nashua, New Hampshire to visit my Auntie Jo and Uncle Bill's new house. During the night, Sarah, Amanda and I came to the realization that we could be replaced by a few toy trains that Matthew had set up for the little guys. I guess the cousinly bond was a bit weak, because the trains really did the entertaining.

Ben and Sam could not be torn away. I'm sure you can imagine the fun of taking twin three-year-olds away from a train set so that they can go home to go to bed. Oh yes, it's a joy. Actually, it's pretty much the same reaction you get when you tell a college student she has to leave home to go back to two weeks of cramming for finals. Sure, I love being back in the city, but after such a much needed break full of relaxation, food and family, I could have used a few extra days to sit and play with the trains.