A Family Filled Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday that I have always loved for so many reasons. I am HUGE on keeping up with traditions and that's what holidays thrive on-traditions. As I have gotten older though, my life has changed and so has the life of my family--particularly, my sisters. They've grown up, gotten married, and had kids. So, they have more than just our family of 5 to consider when it comes to Thanksgiving's dining plans. I've had to let go of some traditions that I held on so tightly to, like having all of us together for Thanksgiving. But don't worry, I haven't let that stop me from enjoying my turkey day celebrations and I definitely haven't let my mom change my menu from what we've always eaten. Turkey, dressing, spinach casserole, sweet potato casserole, cranberry applesauce, blueberry salad, and homemade apple pie for dessert. YUM. I have loved helping my mom cook our Thanksgiving meal for as long as I can remember. We start on Wednesday night and continue through Thursday morning, while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and later, the American Kennel Society Dog Show before sitting down to our family meal.

Because our family traditions have had to shift a little bit, we've had to be more flexible in seeing Katie and Kirby and their families. I headed back to Marietta on Wednesday afternoon just in time to see my parents and spend time with high school friends . I thought I could sleep in on Thursday morning, but boy was I wrong! I popped right up at 8 am and couldn't go back to sleep. But that gave me plenty of time to enjoy a cup of coffee and kick off our Thanksgiving Day festivities (see above)

Friday morning was another early morning because we had to make it to Athens and back during the day, so up I was at 8 in the morning again during my long weekend off. The things I do for family :) We spent time around their house before going out to celebrate Katie's 30th birthday a few days early (her actual birthday is on Monday, if you're curious). Katie and Lee wanted to go see Tangled and took the free babysitters while they had the chance (my parents). I went with them because Lil Miss would have been napping majority of the time we were gone. The only "problem" is that Charlotte loooooooves her G-Paw and might play with other people if they're in the room. But if G-Paw's there, he's the apple of her eye. She wanted to play instead of nap and was still awake by the time we got home. We watched football and laughed at Charlotte's passion to entertain.





I spent the night at Bonnie's Friday night so I wouldn't wake up my parents wen I came back in the wee hours of the morning and made it home Saturday morning at the same time Kirby and Daniel were pulling in the driveway. I loved spending the lazy day at home playing Settlers of Catan, snacking on Turkey Day leftovers all day, taking a nap during the less entertaining football games, and making my youngest niece giggle and watching her as she tried to wiggle across the family room floor.





Overall, this Thanksgiving break has had the perfect balance of family and friends, time to myself, and getting to spend lots of time baking for myself and for my family, and of course, watching football and eating lots of food. Today will hopefully include a nap between church, but that just might be wishful thinking...