My green smoothie stuck with me most of the morning, but with about two hours until dinner time – I was getting hungry. I didn’t really want to eat anything, I wanted to be good and hungry for a feast! But I didn’t want to get to dinner feeling famished either.

What’s a girl to do?

Juice is always the answer!

Carrot apple ginger juice – the perfect thing to tide me over and leave me ready to eat by 2:30.

This year we brought along our favorite Thanksgiving book, The Thanksgiving Bowl by Virgina Kroll.

Having read this book before bed every night for nearly the past three weeks, not to mention the past two Novembers, Ava and I decided it would be fun to do a Thanksgiving Bowl with our family this year.

In the book, the family writes down something they are thankful for on a little piece of paper as they arrive and place their note in a yellow Thanksgiving bowl. After dinner the grandmother reads each note and she has to guess who wrote the note.

Everyone was happy to play along and wrote down a little something while we waited for everyone to arrive and for dinner to be served.

So many amazing vegetable dishes to choose from – who got room for turkey?

After our feast, it was time for Great Granny to guess!

Want to play? You get one guess for this one!

OK, it’s a little tricky so I’ll give you a hint. The person thankful for kitties is featured in this picture.

I missed my photo op for the dessert buffet before pies were sliced and diced!

With the clean up under control and some slivers of pumpkin, apple and elderberry pie enjoyed by me, it was time for some digestion and to head out with my favorite aunt for our annual post-Thanksgiving hour long walk and talk.

Our walk was blessed with a beautiful rainbow.

And am amazing sunset.

Good food and good family.

So much to be thankful for!

I am also thankful that I probably won’t be hungry for three days. And that Thanksgiving only comes once a year.

• We Came, We Saw, We Raked
• Let There Be Light
• Laundry Catch 22

I’ve run Turkey Trot races on Thanksgiving morning before. They are a lot of fun and it’s such a great way to start the holiday off on a healthy kick! I considered doing one again, but in the interest of time I decided to do my own little Turkey Trot at home for free this year.

My girlfriend Sharon came out this morning to run this morning and doing it together made it seem more like an “event”!

We hit the streets in my neighborhood at about 8 this morning for a nice and chatty Thanksgiving morning run.

4 and a half miles and 40 minutes later, we’re back! The air was pleasant and the streets were empty, a fun and fantastic start to Thanksgiving Day.

What’s Thanksgiving morning without a blender full of spinach?

A post-run green smoothie for breakfast with a banana, spinach, ground flax and almond milk. I wanted to be sure I got a nice serving a greens in today because there is no tossed salad on today’s Thanksgiving menu at my grandmother’s house later today.

There is however, coleslaw and vegetarian stuffing on the menu.

As well as sweet potato casserole and cheesy corn casserole too.

All together now!

With a grandmother who is nearly 80 but still enjoys having Thanksgiving dinner at her house, I’m happy to do my granddaughterly duty and prepare and bring a good share of the dishes for our family meal. And as a vegetarian, the vegetable “sides” are our main course after all!

Wishing all my fellow Americans a Happy Thanksgiving!

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• Scary Spoon
• Nothing Beets a Burger