Day 25 of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for Thanksgiving - creative huh?  In the past few years I've had the holidays come and go and I didn't feel like I was totally in the spirit to appreciate it all.  Part of it was not attending church regularly, which happens when you move away from home and love your home church you grew up in and aren't ready to commit to a new church family.  I can honestly say that I feel prepared for the season after giving 25 days of thanks with five more to go.  I'm at such a great place in life at 30 years old and my heart is open for the holiday season.

We have found a church home, now we just need to join and start attending.   We had 14 at our house today for Thanksgiving, including Parker, our parents, my brother and his girlfriend, Benton's aunt and uncle, my uncle and my cousins - twin 6 year old girls and a two year old boy.  It was fast and furious, Parker tried to sleep around noon but there was too much excitement, one cousin was terrified of Jack, but there was plenty of food, wine, and conversation!  I'm thankful that everyone drove here to join us and bring delicious food with them.  I had the tough job of hosting and making green bean casserole, pumpkin pie (thanks again Brynn, it was a hit), and spinach dip.

For the most part, my Thanksgiving memories growing up are mingled in with Christmas.  The food and family was typically the same and we ate at both of my grandmother's houses in Wichita Falls.  There are two Thanksgivings that stick out however, and it will mean nothing to anyone but my parents and brother, but I thought I'd share them anyway.

1) When I was in 4th grade we drove to Memphis to spend Thanksgiving with my Uncle Mike.  We got to miss a couple of days of school, drove all night, saw the leaves changing in Little Rock, and made it to Tennessee.  We went to the bowling alley, drove by Graceland, and drove over the border to Mississippi just to say we had been there.  Pretty fun road trip when you're ten years old.  We had a great time staying in a two-story house too - we rode in cardboard boxes down the stairs and thought it was the best thing we'd ever done!

2) When I was in 6th grade my grandfather and my uncle both passed away suddenly during the same week in February.  The following Thanksgiving, my grandmother did not want to be at home with all of the memories, so we loaded up and went to Irving with her sister for Thanksgiving.  I think it would have been 1993, and there was a terrible ice storm in Dallas that year.  Dad drove from Decatur to Irving with his window down because the windshield was iced over and he couldn't see to drive.  We ate Thanksgiving at the Black Eyed Pea in Las Colinas and it was TERRIBLE.  But it was really fun to see my Uncle Jeff driving donuts in the parking lot of the Courtyard afterwards.

Happy Thanksgiving to all - I hope you enjoy time with your loved ones and have safe travels!  Here is a picture of Parker today on his first Thanksgiving.  Yes he is standing.  He loves to pull himself up now on all things possible!