A Slava Thanksgiving...

As we're approaching the holidays, I'm finally recapping Thanksgiving week in November!  Hey at least I'm making an effort!  This is what started it all.  The constant birthday/holiday bonanza goes from here onto New Year's Eve.  January is pretty slow everywhere you look so I'm hoping I will catch up with my blog then. 
I actually like Thanksgiving more than Christmas.  Who doesn't love good food?  Well in my case, that week was pretty busy.  My friend hosted his Slava that Monday so me and my friends headed up to Skokie after work.  It was nice seeing my friends and their little ones.  If it weren't for events like this one, we wouldn't be able to catch up with one another.  I loved their stuffed cabbage!!  Perfect for fall!

Blessed for the guests!  Everyone takes a spoonful...

Absolutely LOVE stuffed cabbage!!

That Thanksgiving Thursday me and my brothers headed over to my mom's.  I can tell she's been more sensitive than usual, so it was nice having a dinner at her place.  Sometimes she misses having all three of us at once, but it's hard now that we're older.  We're not kids anymore.  It was also nice that she finally put the dog in the next room.  This has been a struggle for me and my brother.  I have asthma and he has allergies.  My little brother is fine, but for us, it's horrible.  My mom's husband got the dog on a whim and they never properly trained him to be alone.  He has been known to bark up a storm when he's by himself.  Luckily, now that my mom is home most of the time, she would put up the dog fence in the kitchen and let him stay there when she is in another room of the house.  That helped him get use to it and it worked out perfectly for us.  The dog stayed in the kitchen while we had our feast.  He would whimper from time to time, but because my mom would come and go to grab more food, he stayed silent the rest of the evening.

Checkout that bird!

We ate like kings...

Me and my mom

Me and my brother are the only ones who have problems with the dog...

My younger brother does not.  He does not suffer from allergies or asthma...

Pies galore...

In the dog house.  I'm pretty sure now he hates us.

On Black Friday I opted not to shop.  I did not want to be a part of that madness, so I cleaned up my apartment and made my way to the gym.  It was a pretty chill day for me until the evening.  My friend had signed up a bunch of us to go to Whirly Ball for an event.  I haven't been there in years and was pleasantly surprised they had done some renovations.  We had a blast considering we did terrible at the carts.  Afterwards, we watched our team play bowling ball.  This was a fun idea and I'm glad we did it.

It's always a good time to play!

Goofing around with the crew...



We had the lanes to ourselves...

The next day on Saturday I went to my friend's party.  Her family was celebrating her brother's and father's birthday, so it was a double treat for them.  Again, there was a ton of food, but we laughed alot.  I always thought my friend's family is a blast.  Everyone always loves going to their parties.  I felt so fortunate to have spent my Thanksgiving week with friends and family and am looking forward to seeing everyone again this weekend.  I hope everyone has a great holiday!!!  Remember the gift of giving joy to one another!  The world needs this now.  Sometimes it's better than receiving presents...

Double birthday parties

Father and son

More food galore!

The happy couple!



Our friend's son had a blast!

Non-stop food fest!

As I mentioned yesterday about the Paris attacks, today unfortunately brought more sad news.  Another terrorism attempt happened in a police station.  A man with a knife was shot dead by police, but a note with an image of an ISIS flag was found on his body.  I pray that things will settle soon in Paris, and that no more acts of violence occur in the near future.  I truly believe this could be possible!
November was a strange month indeed since Friday the 13th.  Since then, our upcoming presidential elections have been focusing mostly on terrorism.  It has caused a trickle effect around the world, with other world leaders weighing in on what needs to be done.  I felt pretty hopeless during this time, mostly because I still have hopes in returning to Paris.  There's so much to see and I only experienced a fraction of what this beautiful city has to offer.  The holidays were slowly creeping up and we started getting a little bit of snow coming in.  It was a sad time but I knew I wanted to be close to my friends and family in the meantime. 
The following Friday after the attacks I had dinner at Shaw's Crab House.  This was nice because it was more toned down than the birthday party I had went to earlier in the week.  It was just what I needed to relax my nerves a bit.  I felt I was watching way too many news stories and I wanted to connect more one-on-one.  It was a chilled night with crab cakes and wine with oysters.  I felt a little better.

Sometimes a glass of red is all you need...

😛



The next day my friend was hosting a slava at her place in Skokie.  Her fiancé is Serbian, and this tradition celebrates the family's patron saint.  They hold a feast twice a year, one to celebrate the mother's family and vice versa.  Considering it was the weekend before Thanksgiving, I knew I was in trouble!  Everything was delish, and we stayed over for a couple of hours to catch up with one another.  I really needed to see my friends right now.  We joke around a lot and it was nice to laugh for a change. 

I got a chance to see my friend's baby!  Look!  We even dressed a like!

They enjoyed themselves as well!