Our Thanksgiving this year was very different in other ways, too. My family is separated in many different directions, so I usually have several meals. I'm overstuffed, feeling hurried to get to the next one, and I don't get to relax. I'm stressed about making sure that I seem to be enjoying the lovely preparation that has gone into making the day a success, but I'm honestly worried about making sure I see everyone that I'm "supposed" to see on this day and that I'm able to spend a decent amount of time with them. When you have lots of family, it's really hard to get that accomplished in one day. Sometimes it takes two days. And then I don't have as much down time to recover from the craziness of it all and get the house decorated for Christmas before December 1st. Talk about STRESS!
This year we invited everyone to come to us. With two little ones who take long afternoon naps, it was truly essential that we not be dragging them all over town all day. For our sanity, and theirs. When I decided that we would host and invite everyone to come to us in one large gathering of all our families, I was a little worried not everyone could be there. We live an hour away from our original hometown, and everyone else still lives there. But for the first time in my life, almost everyone that I normally share Thanksgiving with, came together. You have no idea how thankful I am - all the pieces fell into place.
All of my parents (I have four, plus my in-laws), all of my siblings (minus my sister-in-law who lives in Seattle), my nephew, an aunt, uncle, and cousins who have basically been like my siblings growing up, plus my own family, were all present. We all sat at a long, elegantly decorated table (if I do say so myself - thanks for the help, Mom!) , with name cards handcrafted by Victoria and myself. We used our china and silver for one of the first times since we married and enjoyed a giant buffet of food prepared by everyone.
How cute are Victoria's little finger prints as the turkey feathers?
SO much food...we are still eating the leftovers! Score!
The entire time, all I could think about was how perfect everything was on this particular Thanksgiving because I felt so at peace. I was truly thankful for having all of my family in my home, enjoying one another's company, laughing together, dining together, feeing blessed together. We even ended the night in hysterical laughter as we played a game of Thanksgiving Pictionary. Watching my mother-in-law trying to draw "stuffing" and my step-father trying to draw "cold turkey" was quite entertaining.
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| Cranberry Margaritas by mom |
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| Trey & my dad |
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| Dad drawing on the Pictionary board |
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| Trying to guess Sue Ann's word... |
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| family love & football! |
To my family, thank you for always being so wonderfully loving and thoughtful. I am so grateful for your love each and everyday, and it means so much to me that you all drove an hour to spend Thanksgiving with us so we wouldn't have to travel with the kids. This small gesture was huge for us and I am so grateful that I was able to give thanks without the stress.
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| Our blessed, blended family |
xoxo,
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