Day 221: FOURTH DAY: Turkey Shopping

Ahh, waking up in the country in upstate New York ...we are in a small (tiny!) country area called Austerlitz. Kid sister Jennifer and beau Kevin have a house up here and this is where we are spending our Thanksgiving Holiday.

Pictured here are Jennifer and I taking a walk on a blistery cold day in the country on the road outside her house. Isn't it gorgeous!?

So today Jennifer and I headed out to shop for the fixings for our special holiday meal. Brian stayed in Manhattan to greet the college boy Brandon who arrived early this morning from Oregon. Brandon took a red eye flight from Portland and arrived in New York at 6 a.m. this morning. I was of course worried all night while he was flying since a snow storm hit Portland the day he was leaving. Can you believe Oregon received snow before New York? Crazy.

There were a lot of logistics that went into making this trip happen... and getting Brandon here was one of them. I'm grateful he arrived safely. Brian and he headed to Carneige's for a real New York Deli experience first thing when he arrived. Then off they went to do some sightseeing before heading up to meet us at the house.

Pictured here is Brandon in Times Square the morning he arrived in the City.

Jennifer and I headed to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, just about 25 minutes from her home. What a beautiful quaint town! I loved it! We did a major grocery shop getting all the ingredients for our feast. Then off to Guido's market - picture Bristol Farms and Whole Foods combined, a beautiful specialty food market where Jen had ordered the turkey for us to pick up.

After all our shopping we stopped at a charming French bistro in Great Barrington for a delicious little nosh before heading back to prepare. Why is everyone so friendly when you are out of Los Angeles?

While we got things in order for Thanksgiving dinner, Kevin and his adorable 6 year old son Zachary and Brian and Brandon made their way up to meet us. What a joyous love fest it was when we all finally were together on the eve of Thanksgiving.

Are these the most gorgeous men or what? Pictured here are Harrison, Brian, Kevin and Spencer. Love these boys!!

After another yummy meal in a neighboring town called Chatham, we headed back to the house to chill. I breathed a sigh of relief that we had all made it. As I said above there were a lot of logistics... everyone with a different schedule, 8 bodies to move, two cars to load, lots of meals to prepare and flights to schedule so when we were finally all together on the eve of Thanksgiving in this beautiful, cozy and warm home it just all felt right. I knew we had made the best and right decision to change it up for our family this year.

Off to bed now to be fresh for the big feast tomorrow.