"Life is Short; Eat Dessert First"

Someone somewhere sometime ago said something along the lines of it being the small things that shape who you are. Looking back, I realize it was two childhood friends - one who would shut her bedroom door and let her parakeets out of their cage, and another who had a giant rooster that chased and pecked children - who sparked my intense fear of birds (I have yet to reach my fear of butterflies epiphany), and a random kitchen magnet emblazoned in my mind that I constantly find myself returning to: "Life is Short; Eat Dessert First."

A present from my mom's mom to her, I didn't understand it until Mom explained, "It means that you never know what is going to happen next so you should do the good things first - dessert."

Boom.

Mind. Blown.

So while it's not necessarily what I'd refer to as my "life motto," it was this year's Thanksgiving theme; what I like to call Dessertsgiving.

All homemade, Bitches (including the kid, if you can spot him in the picture)! Our Halloween McJackolanterns turned into that pumpkin pie, I made Apple Crumble (which turned out to be my best yet and can no longer be called Apple Crap), brownies, both plain and with candy canes inside, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. And what compliments dessert better than booze and hot cocoa? Ummm, nothing!

I also bought some vanilla and Butter Pecan ice cream to accompany but we got distracted and full from everything else.

Growing up, Thanksgiving was always a big holiday, filled with smells of yummy deliciousness and screams at the TV. As Jacob and I have gotten older, and thus more adult-er, Thanksgiving has turned into just another Thursday. I do, however, put out some decorations, and - although I've been watching Christmas movies since Halloween - refuse to put out a single Christmas decoration until December.

These are by far my most favorite fall decorations of them all.

And I do make it a point to cook a bird of some kind. Our family is a tad small for a giant turkey, and my leftover options aren't as expansive as with chicken, so that's what I made. Zoey was a little disappointed we weren't having turkey until I reminded her that she's had chicken the last three Thanksgivings, and we're especially honoring the turkey because we spared one; our own little Presidential Pardon.

I also made green bean casserole (with homemade cream sauce and fried onions!) because it's my favorite, and roasted sweet potatoes because they had been sitting on my counter and I didn't know what else to do with them.

And then we had a little more turkey and ham.