Thanksgiving Humor

You may remember when Rendi and Mary (William's Mother) showed up at Chailee's Wedding Shower in the same dress. So, Rendi presented Mary with a gift of these Barbies, memorializing the event, just before Chailee and William's Wedding. Mary and Bill Moss (William's Parents) are now escorting this pair to select appearances at various social occasions. This is the Thanksgiving greeting that Mary and Bill sent us. Can't wait to see where they turn up next!

Thanksgiving Barbies 2011

Love, Rendi

We're So Thankful!

We missed the rest of the Halberstadt crew in Asheville this Thanksgiving weekend!  William and I took FOUR hours to get from Chapel Hill to Charlotte on Wednesday night (normally a 2 hour trip) because of the holiday traffic.  However, it was completely worth it, because we got to pick Maris up at the Charlotte airport and whisk her to Asheville for the holiday.  Perry did not love the traffic, but he LOVED having Mel as a buddy in the back seat and was pretty good the entire way from Charlotte in his cute car harness.


Mom and dad were very sweet and had dinner (Sushi from Wasabi, our favorite japanese restaurant in Asheville) waiting for us when we got in around 9, and then we did some turkey prep and turned in.  Dad and I walked the puppy Thursday morning up to the cul de sac, and then the cooking began.  I can't claim large contributions to the cooking this year on Thanksgiving Day, because I fell asleep for several hours during the middle of the day while William watched football!  We had a nice group of 7 people for the meal - Mom, dad, William, Maris, and I, plus Ed and Amy Euler.  Of course, we ALWAYS miss Saba and Savta!!  We taped our thankfuls so you could feel like you were there, video is below.

Friday Mom, Maris and I did some fun shopping during the day, and then the whole crew (Mom, Dad, William, Maris and I) hiked up the mountain in the afternoon.  Dad took this picture with Perry at the top!

On Saturday, we got to wish Mom happy birthday, and Maris and I helped her organize her jewelry and scarves.  At lunch we went down town for sandwiches at City Bakery, and afterward we made a pretty silly sculpture of everything on the table at lunch (pictured below) - we had to bus our own tables, so in the end the mess was only for us to clean up!

For dinner we went to L.A.B. in downtown Asheville, the first time we had all been back since the evening before the wedding.  Afterward mom opened her presents (a super warm coat and vest from dad) and cards (Maris and I had gotten mom and dad Paul Simon Tickets for their November birthdays, so mom already knew her gift from us).  We had almond birthday cake from Sisters McMullen for dessert, and it was delicious!  Today we organized leftovers and took a walk on Vance Gap as a family, then William and I packed and headed back to Chapel Hill.  We were very sad to leave everyone, but it was a wonderful weekend and we were indeed thankful for every minute we had with the Mann-Stadt part of the Halberstadt tribe.  Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was just as wonderful!


Love,
Chailee, William, and the Mann-Stadts

Holiday Baking

I made pumpkin pie last night for William's company Thanksgiving party today, and since I had extra pie dough and filling I made tiny pumpkin pies!  They are about the size of a mini cupcake, have chopped candied ginger and pecans on the top, and theoretically have a lot less calories than a whole pie slice, but so far people have not been limiting themselves to one :).

I brought them in to my office today and I think they will be gone soon, which is good because we don't need them hanging around chez Moss, particularly with all the turkey in our future.  Tomorrow William and I are driving to Charlotte to pick Maris up around 5 p.m. (hah, take that Boston, we get her for the weekend) and then we will drive to Asheville for Thanksgiving in the mountains.  I am starting to get very excited about the holiday, hope everyone is remaining calm despite the prep!

Love,

Chailee 

Gimme a D...U....K....E!

Yesterday (Saturday) William and I had tickets to go the football game at Duke, courtesy of William's family friends Susan Ross, and her husband Tom Hadzor.  Tom makes bloody marys before every game for their tailgate, so I had one and was a little sleepy during the first half of the game (not sure what Duke's excuse was, because they were also pretty sleepy for a while).   The game ended up being pretty close (31-38 and Duke made a good effort during the second half but it wasn't enough to win).  Afterward we went to a restaurant called Beyu in Durham for date night, and it was delicious!

This morning, as we do most Sunday mornings, we took Perry to the dog park right across from our apartment.  As usual, there were at least 6 other dogs, so he played for an hour and was so tired he slept for several hours afterward (this is, of course, the point - the only good puppy is a tired puppy!).  This is Perry with his two other favorite dogs, Taffy (brown on the left) and Sophie (the other black dog teaching Perry a lesson he probably deserved) who belong with my med school friend Jenn.

The rest of the day has been pretty lazy, hope the rest of the Halberstadt crew had a great weekend!

Love,
Chailee

San Francisco!

LA Connection: Mike is in the Building!

Update from Chailee

I really hope this will be a place where everyone can share what is going on in their lives - I hope that it is a way that we can keep Savta and Saba posted but also learn more about what is going on with everyone in our family!!!


Last Saturday, November 13th we had 23 people to dinner in our tiny apartment - it was quite packed!  Five years ago, I invited some friends over to bring their favorite thanksgiving dish for a potluck before the holiday season started, and Friend Thanksgiving was born.  Originally it was only 6 people or so, but it has grown every year as William and my group of friends has expanded, and this year was the biggest yet.  We had to rent tables and chairs to accomodate everyone, but it was so much fun and a great reminder of all the wonderful friends for which we can be thankful this holiday season.

Tonight we took Perry (the pictured mischievous hound) to his third obedience class.  He almost failed out after the first two - the class is in an outdoor arena with 7 other dogs and their humans, and he has been WILD for every other lesson.  It was so bad that we considered not taking him back this week!  Today he seemed to turn the corner, though (I have been working with him a ton at home) and he was actually attentive and good on the leash for more than 15% of the time, so we're taking it as an improvement!! 


Love,
Chailee

Inaugural Post

Dear Saba and Savta,

We were inspired by Matt's blog to start a blog that all the children, grandchildren, and other family could post on so that you could get easy updates about our lives.  It's hard to be scattered all over the country, but the beauty of the internet is that we can send you pictures and updates with the click of a button - it is about time we started taking advantage of this!

Love,
The Extended Halberstadt Family