Thanksgiving. That time of year when family and friends can gather, eat great food, spend time together just 'being' and prepare for the holiday season. I've come to the conclusion that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It truly is a time to just be together with those that are most important and be thankful for all that we have. Mainly it's just being together and sharing a great meal together.
This year was the first time in a long while that we gathered later in the day. It was surprisingly delightful to spend much of the afternoon by myself, working on my blog, walking Chezie around a very quiet complex, and getting my stuff together for an exciting 24 hours of family fun. A very relaxing way to spend a holiday and one I recommend to anyone who has the chance to do this. We gathered at mom and dad's between 4:30 - 5:00. I think Rick and Stacey and clan were the first to arrive for the first time ever! We sat down to eat at 5:25 and by 5:55 we were done. Talk about an inhalation! But, as always, mom outdid herself with a phenomenal bird--very juicy. Cooked just right. Dad's contribution was a HUGE bowl of mashed potatoes. Jen, Stacey, and I added our own tasty dishes. And, like most years, there is and was an abundance of food on the table. The table length itself increased as we like to have enough room for all the food as well as sitting comfortably. Kyle likes to take his place sitting at the opposite end as grandpa.
After eating, the kids got ready for the annual showing of The Polar Express. We started this tradition 4 years ago, on Thanksgiving night, when we all went to the theater to see the movie. Celia was 5 months old at that time. Now, we show it on Thanksgiving night, with the kids getting all comfy and cozy on the floor while the adults 'do homework' by looking a the adds for the Black Friday onslaught. There's always some great deal that has to be had. As the family has cut down on gift-giving over the years, for me, going out is part of kicking off the season and getting some great deal for myself. Usually something that I've been looking at for a long time but wanted to wait until the price was right. This year the purchase was a short air purifier tower. My neighbor enjoys smoking in his house during the winter months and as a result, my bedroom often has a lingering smoke smell. Hopefully this will help with purifying the air during my sleep hours. Rick, Stacey, all 5 grandkids, and 2 dogs, stayed overnight. G & G were the sleeping babysitters as Brian/Jen and Rick/Stacey wanted to get a jump start on the gift buying for their kids. So, once the kids were all safely tucked into sleeping bags in the basement, a plan was made for the day. They were all heading to Kohl's for th 4am opening. Meijer is usually where I go as it's the easiest to get in and out of, and they have MANY quantities of items. There are also so many of these stores around that if you can't get it at one, there's always another.
The alarms went off at 3:15! Since we didn't get settled into bed until after midnight ourselves (Brian & Jen settled for sleeping at their own house, with their kids at G & G's), it made for a very short night!! *Wow, am I tired as I write this!!!! We were out of the house by 3:40 and I was in Meijer by 3:50. I ended up waiting in the GPS line for an hour as I had already grabbed my air thingy and was getting the GPS for mom and dad. It was quite enjoyable chatting with the 2 other people in line. Time went quickly and I was out the door by 5:20. Chezie was waiting in the car for me so we took a quick trip home, to our house, before heading out to a couple other stores. By 8am, I was enroute back to mom and dad's, hopefully for a few minutes of shut-eye before the kids got up. It was a few minutes allright! 3 whole minutes!!! But, once everyone was up and breakfast got started, I was awake.
It was a wonderful 24 hours of family fun and excitement. Great memories to last until next Thanksgiving. Wonderful pictures were taken and hopefully they upload like I want. I'm still new to this blogging thing and I'm finding that posting pics is the most challenging part.
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