This Thanksgiving week marked a huge milestone for both Riley and I. The first time both of us have taken time off together (not counting going on an actual vacation). No big plans…just some time off for the holiday. Riley stuck to his plan and only worked a day and a half this week while I worked Monday and Tuesday. I had my fingers crossed that nothing new would pop up with work that would force me to have to see patients on Wednesday. I woke up with a feeling I haven’t felt in quite some time. It was somewhere in between relaxation and carefree. Ah, what a relief. Hallie had plans to go play with her friends are Miss Paula’s like usual that day as I had some top secret work to do that morning. This top secret work took place at Nanny’s house. Obviously I can’t share what I was doing but I will say that the relaxing vibes continued on through the morning while I spent some time with Kylie, Nanny and this little turkey right here…..
Nanny had planned a girl’s Thanksgiving lunch (no boys allowed) with some yummy chicken and dumplings, pumpkin and cream cheese crescent rolls. Delicious!!! Katie and our friend Lacy joined us girls during their lunch break for an early jump on Thanksgiving eating. It was the perfect start to the holiday season! All we were missing was Hal gal….but she was busy snoozing away at Miss Paula’s house.
Aunt Kylie went to pick up Hallie after her nap while Nanny multi-tasked in overdrive, Papa watched a little TV and I was busy finishing my super top secret task. Riley joined us shortly after and we all spent some time out on the back porch since it was such a gorgeous day. Hallie was soaking up all the sun that she could…..
Aunt Ky and her girl
Papa and Kylie were busy entertaining little Miss Carmen….
Our family of three headed home with enough time to get packed and get on the road. But we would have been crazy to waste the remainder of daylight on such a beautiful day. My munchkin and I met Aunt Katie and her munchkin for a nice stroll in the beautiful weather. If only everyday could feel like that outside. Once we got back home we had a packing spree. Packing with a child seems to get more and more complicated. I always have this fear of forgetting something…or everything. Not that it would be the end of the world if I forgot something but throw in packing all of my ingredients for turkey day food and I had no real direction. I felt like I was just throwing things in bags and ice chests with no rhyme or reason. With Riley’s help we made it out the door just thirty minutes after we’d planned and got to Enid around 7:00. Not too shabby. I’d been dreaming about the Thanksgiving day food spread during our drive and we were all three starving by the time we pulled into Dad’s house. Riley was of course craving some Chili’s…and everyone else seemed to be as well. Hallie ran around and spent up the last little bit of energy she had been saving up. She used some of that energy to help me make a pie crust….
"No time to waste on pictures mom...this crust won't make itself."
"You mean all these crackers are for the pie and not for ME?!?!"
She had just enough energy left to give some hugs and kisses before snuggling into her pack’n’play for the night. I hear that she didn’t go down without a fight. We only let her in on a bit of the action and I guess she wasn’t okay with that. How dare we make her go to bed when all the fun was about to start. Trust me baby girl, it was for your own good. I hope you dreamed of mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. ;)
Spencer, Riley and Dad stayed back at the house listening to Hallie protest from her bed while Dara, Bailey and I picked up some Chili’s To Go for everyone. Once we got back we all settled in around and tv for movie selection time. After about fifteen minutes of movie scrolling and some deep discussion about why the movie Elf wasn’t an option, we finally settled on Christmas Vacation. Perfect choice!!!!!!!!!!! What is it about the opening music that just immediately has the “holiday effect” on a person. On a couch, in my sweat pants, surrounded by family, lots of laughs, a great movie, yummy food, a sweet sleeping baby…….what else could I ask for?? We all had grand plans to stay up late but after I had finished preparing my pie for the next day I was ready to pass out. There is just something about being home….granted it is not even close to the same as when my mom was alive, but it still is the greatest place on earth to me. Home sweet home.
I could feel the excitement of the holiday from the moment my eyes pried themselves open with sound of Hallie chattering in the next room over. Our first thing to be thankful for was the fact that it was nearly 8:00!! WOW! I can live like that! Hallie and I had some cooking to do so we found ourselves busy in the kitchen while the guys snoozed away. Hallie didn’t get the memo about skipping breakfast on Thanksgiving to save room for turkey……
"Just stretching my stomach mom...."
"Have you ever known me to skip a meal??"
"When you are hungry, you're hungry. Right Emmi?"
Gman was still sleeping and Riley was in need of his morning coffee so Hallie and him went out on a mission to find a place that was open. After they returned from hunting down some coffee the two of them set up camp in the living room and waited patiently for the Macy’s parade to start….
You can just see the anticipation, right? ;)
Miss helpful hands brought in the newspaper from outside to deliver to Gman.....
Extra! Extra!! Read all about it!
Mid-morning she still hadn't caught on to the whole "save room in your belly for lunch" tactic.....
"PlEEEEAAAAAASSSSSEEEE! You don't understand how hungry I really am"
Aunt B showed up and the two of us got busy tearing up the kitchen. This is the part where the laughs began. Oh my, the two of us were not fit to be contributing to Thanksgiving dinner. Here’s just a few clear reasons why: she was in charge of making the green bean casserole. Problem is she didn’t get the right green beans at the store. One of my dishes I was in charge of was broccoli and cheese casserole….I forgot to bring broccoli. Score!! In between Bailey asking me what “sauté” means and telling me that she usually just skips that step I was busy pacing back and forth deciding if I wanted to brave Walmart or not. Aunt Lisa to the rescue. She has broccoli and the shortening that Bailey didn’t have for her chocolate covered cranberries. We were quite the dynamic culinary duo. I couldn’t help but mention that mom was probably cringing while she watched us try to navigate her kitchen. In the end everything turned out perfectly fine and I’m pretty sure our morning spent in the kitchen is something I will never forget.
Hallie kept finding herself in the kitchen on a search for “crackas”….that girl seriously does not understand the rules of Thanksgiving. She ate all morning long!! Hallie insisted on a second bath before we left which left me with very little time to get myself ready….I guess she just wanted to be extra clean for the holiday with family. Silly girl. We made it over to David and Lisa’s house around 11:30. Role call: Garrett, Dara, David, Lisa, Lisa’s brother and mother, Aunt Lana, Bailey, Dad, Hallie, Riley and I. A rather small gathering compared to our usual thirty plus list of family members. A little less hectic and a lot more relaxing.
The smell was intoxicating and David was passing out samples of his injected and fried turkey. YUM!!! What a warm holiday welcome. Only samples for the time being because we had a mission to complete before we could dig into Thanksgiving dinner. But even before we could leave on our mission Hallie was begging for some outside time. 
"A lil help here please...."
She got her way and savored some time on the swing with Dara. This just happened to be one of the leaf shots we attempted to get. We were going for the dramatic falling leaves look if you can't tell. Hehehe....
"Why must I always be their guinea pig??"
Mission time!! Lisa and David had made up a heaping helping of turkey and the fixings for the grandkids to take to Meme. She is still at the rehab hospital and was in need of some family time and yummy food on that special day. Riley drove across town and we all squeezed in for a ride full of laughs. It's impossible not to laugh when you have all of us in one car together. Especially when you put Garrett next to Hallie. They are quite the duo with a hilarious love-hate relationship....
"Somebody get this guy some help please!"
To Meme's room we go!
The bearer of good food
Riley was providing his usual humor for everyone. We may have been too distracted by the smell of the food but for some reason it took five people to figure out which entrance to go to....
Meme perked up when she saw everyone walk in. The doctor followed closely behind and gave us some amazing news!! Dara inquired about Meme getting to leave for a little bit of family time. He agreed that it would be good for her to leave for a couple hours. We planned our secret surprise and told Meme we would be back after we ate to pick her up and surprise everyone. As we were walking out the doctor came back in with some sobering news.....facility rules wouldn't allow her to leave for the day. Bummer. Total bummer.
Hallie thought she ought to share a meal with Meme since she wouldn't be able to spend the afternoon with her now. Meme gave her a few bites of Ashley salad. Yes, I have a salad named after me. Or at least that's what everyone has learned to call it over the years. I requested this salad so much when I was younger that it is now known as "Ashley salad".
"I like food. Can I have a salad named after me?"
Meanwhile back at the ranch the "adults" were getting hungry. We piled out of the truck after another laughter-filled ride back which included Garrett "scolding" Hallie and hurting her feelings. The hungry and tired girl was not in the mood to be told "stop it" and she made that clear to us. I told you they have a love-hate relationship, didn't I? It was apparent that we needed to get my girl hooked up with some turkey fast! Within ten minutes of returning she was seated at the kids table with Dara, Garrett, Bailey and Lana. At what point will we stop calling it the kid's table? Probably never. ;) There was one actual kid at the table though and she had a lot of eating to do.....
Hallie's Thanksgiving spread
A Thanksgiving toast at the kid's table
In the sampling phase at this point
In the shoveling phase
"See, breakfast didn't keep me from having an appetite!"
She abruptly requested to get down from her chair and ran straight into the arms of Aunt Lisa....
Awwwwww
What should one do after stuffing their faces with stuffing??? Why exercise of course.....
"While all those other fools are napping and watching football I'm gonna burn some calories"
Lana brought her new baby in from the car after we finished lunch. Meet Turbo the wonder dog....
Thanks Riley, let's try this again.
Meet Turbo the wonder dog....
There, that's better
And that's even better
The turkey had a rapid effect on Aunt B and Gman.....
Hallie checked out her new potential friend....
"Hey, my name's Hallie. What's yours? I like milk, food and making messes."
The lil turkey took a turkey nap for a couple hours and once she woke we wrangled the boys up and broke their football trance long enough to go outdoors and snap some Tday pictures. We managed to get a few that turned out great.....
5 Men and a Little Lady
Once we were back inside Hallie was making her rounds trying to steal of drink of anything that is usually off-limits....
"But it's Thanksgiving mom...."
As hard as I tried to ignore the gaping hole that was present during our celebration, we needed to go pay a holiday visit to Grammy. A few of us drove out to the cemetary on that gorgeous afternoon to spend some time with her.
Once we returned it was time to play. It would've been a sin to waste the afternoon indoors. It was just plain gorgeous.
It was getting close to that time. Time to head home. Hallie said her goodbyes not knowing that she'd she them all a short 12 hours later.
A therapist on a holiday does not have the day off. It's a rule. Their is always your standard complaints of shoulder pain, lower back pain, upper trap tightness and headaches. This is when I go to work. Anything for the ones I love the most! Yesterday was a short work day as I only had two patients. My dad just needed a kick in the head and an ice pack while Garrett needed a bit more hands-on work on his neck......
"Toughen up!!"
He wasn't sure what to think when this "therapy" was finished.....
Ice! Ice! Ice!
Ten thousand hugs wouldn't show how much I love my family. They keep me on my feet and catch me when I fall. They love unconditionally and love big!!
After we pulled in at home we did some furiously fast unpacking, hopped into our pajamas, ate a quick bedtime banana snack and popped in a new Thanksgiving tradition......
"Finally!!! Someone who has less hair than me. Thanks Charlie."
I love the Charlie Brown holiday movies and I thought Hallie might just enjoy them too. That is if she could sit still. There was just too much excitement in the air for our cupcake-clad cutie to sit tight in her pink chair to watch the show. She instead ran like lightening up and down the hallway, in and out of rooms, bringing me random objects and pulling dog tails left and right. I could almost see her energy meter slowly ticking away. She put up a good fight but the remaining tryptophan finally took effect and we found her holding onto the bars of her crib and looking up to get in. Yes, we've entered the stage where she tells us when she's ready for bed....which is just one more final thing to be thankful for today.
The amount of things to be thankful for in our lives are innumerable. If I tried to list them I'm sure I'd leave something or someone out. So I'll just leave it at THANKFUL. For everything.
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