Giving Thanks

We have so very much to be thankful for, including sharing a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend with our family. Tara arrived Tuesday evening so she could spend Wednesday helping us get everything ready for our Thanksgiving feast. Our feasting began, however, on Wednesday evening when we gathered for our traditional holiday nachos!I don't know what the difference was in this year's Thanksgiving nachos, but I am sure they were the best nachos EVER! Coupled with Amy's pumpkin pie milkshakes, our Thanksgiving Eve was a feast itself!

I got up early and got the turkey in the oven since Thanksgiving morning begins with the annual Coles Crossing Turkey Trot. It was a brisk but sunny morning and we all joined the line-up, including June in her stroller and Leo on his bike. We were all so proud of Isabelle when she ran the entire 2-mile course without once slowing down or stopping to catch her breath! Then it was home to get dinner ready. The little ones helped set the table, and got their hands in the flour to help roll out the hot rolls. Isabelle made special place cards for the table, and by 1:00 the feast was on. We toasted to the great year we have had, and each of us shared something particular we are thankful for. The food was delicious, and the time spent together sitting around the dining table was priceless.

The next event was an unplanned misstep that resulted in me on the floor, stuffing thrown all over the dining room, Lee and Amy looking stunned, and Tara hysterically laughing! For whatever reason, I lost my balance, with both hands full of dishes and the bowl of stuffing, and in slow motion crashing against the wall before crumpling to the floor. (It's too bad we didn't get it on video, because I'm sure it would have won $10,000 on America's Funniest Home Videos!) I never completely lost consciousness, but suffered a degree of shock, and couldn't get up off the floor for about 30 minutes. Lee finally got me to the bedroom to lie down, while everyone else did all of the Thanksgiving clean-up. (On a side note - I thought I was just feeling sore from the fall, but eventually went to Urgent Care for x-rays which resulted in pain pills for fractured ribs!)

One of our most recent Thanksgiving traditions is launching the holiday season with the grandkids finding surprises in their big homemade mitten. This year they all found matching red/black plaid, one-piece, long underwear style, pajamas with "Bear Cheeks" on the trap door.

One of our favorite parts of the Thanksgiving weekend is the Black Friday shopping, which now starts on Thursday evening. In fact, for Isabelle, dinner is definitely second to the shopping! We studied the ads, made our lists, and were part of the shopping frenzy Thursday night. We divided up so we could get the deals at both Target and Wal-Mart, then met up to regroup and go to JCPenney. We were so excited to get almost everything on our lists, plus a few things we just couldn't pass up! My arms were so sore from the fall that I could hardly move them, but I managed to swipe my credit card!

Everyone found a bed to sleep in, and the fun continued Friday and Saturday with lots of yummy leftovers, movies, and Christmas crafts. We walked around the neighborhood to see the first Christmas lights, and Isabelle, Olivia, and Leo each took a turn throwing up at least once over the weekend. It was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember!