Happy Thanksgiving From The BLF Family To Yours!

Amongst our team at BLF, we all share our favorite Thanksgiving memories. It is a highlight of the year and started Thanksgiving 2017 when Ashley was first with us. It has carried on like a tradition and is always special. I’m thankful for this team, my family, my friends and everyone who is a part of our BLF family. We would not be here without you!

Nicole: My favorite memories from Thanksgiving always revolve around food.  Firstly, my brother and I always fight over our favorite sparkling apple cider--Martinelli's.  We usually go through three bottles over the holiday weekend between the two of us. Even though we're both old enough to have champagne with the adults now, I know we'll continue to battle for who gets the last glass of sparkling cider.  My favorite item on the table every thanksgiving is my dad's famous cranberry jello salad. Far from the can of jelly that holds it shape, this family recipe spanning generations uses fresh fruits like pineapple, grapes, and of course, cranberries.  Plus, it's great for breakfast the next morning. Finally, my mom is not the baker of the family (that would be me) so I always make the pies. But lately I've been having to watch over the Pillsbury crescent rolls, too, because she's forgotten about them and burnt them a few too many times in the last few years.  We buy an extra can of the rolls now, just to be safe!

Desiree: Growing up my family and I never did a thanksgiving together. It would just be me, my dad, my mom along with our two dogs Lucy and Brandi. We liked it this way because it was less hectic. It wasn’t until the year of 2017 that we wanted to really celebrate the holidays together, as a family with my cousins and grandparents. A few months prior to thanksgiving my grandfather was on life support due to both his lungs collapsing from nicotine abuse. The doctors didn’t think he was going to make it, we didn’t think he was going to make it but to our surprise he did. We had so much guilt of not spending more time with him we thought “what if he didn’t make it, what if.” We decided going forward that we would spend every holiday together. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. After his release from the hospital we were one week shy from Thanksgiving. We all got together at my grandmother’s house. We sat around the kitchen table and shared 3 things we were thankful for. In which we all replied “we are thankful for another year with Pop Pop”. That year I realized two things, one it’s the little things in life that count, make time for your loved ones they’re the ones that know you best inside and out. Lastly, nothing is promised, such as tomorrow.

Rosie: My fondest memories of the year are always around the holidays because I am surrounded by my amazing family. I am fortunate enough that I get to spend the first part of Thanksgiving Day with my in-laws and the second part of the day with my parents. For me, Thanksgiving is always a much-needed reminder to slow down and reflect on the year and all the things that I am grateful for, and this year has been full of blessings. I feel blessed to have such an amazing and healthy daughter, Evelyn; a loving and supportive husband and our one-year old dog, Zeke. I am thankful for my mom, dad, sisters, brother, nephews, nieces and in-laws who I love so much and all mean so much to me. Earlier this year marked my one-year anniversary of being part of the Button Law Firm family and I am so grateful for that because I get to be a part of a team that is driven by passion in what we do for our clients and our community.

 

Natalia: There’s so much to love about Thanksgiving. I love the emphasis on family and taking time to sit down around a table and give each other our time over a meal. At my mom’s house, the most important part of our Thanksgiving dinner is actually dessert! We take it very seriously. You can’t have only one kind of dessert; there has to be at least three. Every year, my mom and I make pecan pies, my brother makes pumpkin pie, and my sister makes cheesecake. We love to eat our meal, take a food-induced rest, and then come back for dessert together at the table. As my family has grown, every year looks a little bit different. Now that I’m married, I’ve gotten to experience what an Argentinian Thanksgiving looks like with my in-laws. My siblings and their spouses are creating their own traditions that we get to take part in. My niece and nephews bring new life to the day, and it’s so fun watching them grow and learn to participate more in the holidays!

 

Ashley: Growing up in a Cuban family in South Miami, my Thanksgiving meal was very different from the traditional meal! My grandmother would cook authentic Cuban food for a day and a half before our dinner. Our meals consisted of roasted pork, rice and beans, plantains, yuca, and avocado salad. The best part of our meal was my grandmother’s famous black beans. Handwritten in an old diary-style notebook that she managed to bring from Cuba, is the recipe for the greatest Cuban black beans that were ever made. She would start on them the day before and let the flavors soak into the beans over night. By the time we were ready to sit down for dinner, her black beans had been tended to for nearly 24 hours. The leftovers would be mashed up to use as black bean dip for the next few days after the holiday. 

 

Russell: Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. It is all about family and family means everything to me. When we were growing up, we would always have a big meal, watch football,and play outside (usually throwing the football). As we got older and became involved with basketball more and more, our Thanksgiving still remained about family but we had to practice. In college, we usually did a two-a-day on Thanksgiving. So, when we got done playing basketball in college and didn’t have that time commitment, we got back to how Thanksgiving was when we were little. One of the funniest stories I remember was when we went to one of my Aunt’s houses. She wanted to host Thanksgiving. So we all went over there set for a 2 pm meal and then watch the Cowboys play the afternoon game. For some reason the turkey kept taking forever, even though it had been in the oven for hours before we got there. We all devoured the appetizers and ate every crumb. We watched the Cowboy game. Still no turkey. It wasn’t done. Around 7 pm, we were about to pass out as we hadn’t really eaten all day waiting for this meal. It turns out the oven was on cleaning mode. Once we realized this, the oven was turned on extra high to hurry up and cook the thing. We ended up eating our meal at 9 pm that night. We all laugh about it to this day, but that’s quite a memory to last all these years.