Sweet Thanksgiving

We haven't celebrated Thanksgiving in Alabama with Carol's family since Carol was pregnant with Jake.  And even then, I was out at sea so it was only Carol and CJ enjoying a southern feast while I was haze gray and underway fighting for turkey and stuffing with 5,000 of my best navy shipmates onboard the aircraft carrier, USS JOHN F. KENNEDY.

So one of the best things about this current tour in Memphis is our proximity to family.  It's about a four hour drive to Birmingham.  We've already made the trip a couple of times.  This is the closest we've ever been to either of our families throughout my entire career.  Driving to Greenbow, Alabama for Thanksgiving was a no-brainer.

Along with the traditional Thanksgiving grub that was so delicious it would make Paula Dean smack her momma, there was also plenty of mind blowing sweets to help accelerate the tryptophan-induced food comas we would soon succumb to.  Allow me to share two sweet delicacies that stood out during this nice break with family.

Jake discovered strawberry milk.  Since his first try just wasn't pink enough, he of course had to pour in another dose of that sugary goodness.  I believe the spoon was able to stand up on its own in that glass.

If all the Halloween candy wasn't enough to send your kid to the dentist, how about this bad boy to ensure the presence of holes in the mouths of the little ones?  Wrapped around the Kit Kat candy bar walls and the M&M roof is an actual chocolate cake.  Amy, you outdid yourself.

I'm embarrassed to say that I did not partake in either treat, even though they were both fat free.  Yeah, right.  Milk and I haven't seen eye to eye for years.  As far as the cake, sometimes it's better to just soak in the Picasso with your eyes rather than take it home.