How Life Happens: Week of Thanks: Thanksgiving

Friday, November 25, 2011

Week of Thanks: Thanksgiving

I didn't get a chance to write my post yesterday. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year and I roasted my first turkey. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and for that I am thankful ;-)

I am thankful for:

Our house filled with family on Thanksgiving. It's a great holiday made wonderful when everyone can come together as a family and have fun.
Everyone was in good health this year. We had no hospital visits even for routine things like therapy or CI mapping sessions. I love having a normal, dr/specialist/therapy free week!
The food we had on our table. This year we participated in several food drives for those who are struggling to put food on their table. We will continue to participated in regular food donations outside the holiday season because so many people are struggling and getting good food and nutrition shouldn't be so hard.
At the beginning of our meal we went around the table and talked about what we are most thankful for. I loved listening to everyone's responses and it makes wonder if the people in the store lines on Thanksgiving are missing out on the true spirit of the holiday season.

A little bit about my day (because in the future when I go back through my posts I'll wonder what the heck we did for this Thanksgiving day). The morning was a gorgeous 57 degree day and Chris took the girls and Brianna to the parade in the morning. They went for hot cocoa afterwards. Then they came home after the parade - but I was still watching it on tv! They were at the beginning of the parade line and the dancing/tv cameras were at the end of the line and so there was about an hour difference in the time they were done and the tv cameras were over. Their favorite part of the parade was watching the cheerleaders who were dressed up as reindeer do their cheers. I think the hot cocoa was a top second favorite!

While I had the house to myself, I put the turkey in the oven and set the tables. We had an adult table and a child table and both were set with my china. The children's table was set with the dishes from my grandmother because I didn't have enough of my own china. I loved that we used both sets of plates! It was very easy to prepare dinner because everyone brought a dish or more and my oven was dedicated to the turkey and stuffing. When most people were here there was a pick-up game of football outside. The adults and kids played, Emma cheered them on while in her KidWalk and I think it ended up with a tie score when it was time to come in for dinner. After dinner Chris showed the video from our Ireland vacation and it was fun to watch together.

Then it was time for a talent show. Julia did her Irish dancing - she's had about 5 lessons so far and is doing great! Brianna showed off some of her Karate. Emma really wanted to get in on the action and Julia reminded me that Emma can pull to stand when she holds my hands now - a recent skill - so we had Emma do her standing a couple of times because she just lit up with all the cheering for her. My heart melted at how Julia remembered that so we could include her sister - she is an amazing big sis. How lovely to see the kids show off the talents they are working so hard to achieve! The evening wound down with some games on the Wii that really woke everyone up. I think my neighbors might even have heard all the ruckus from the games and we wouldn't have it any other way. My niece Rebecca decided to stay over and after everyone was gone and the girls were in bed we headed over to the movies to see Breaking Dawn. I was surprised to see the shopping area near the theatre so filled with people before we remembered that the stores were opening at night on Thanksgiving. Ugh! We made it to the movie and it wasn't too crowded. When we came out around midnight there were huge lines outside the stores and we were happy to be headed home to be.