Above is my sweet baby's "thankful" list. I'm so glad I made the list right next to markers. I didn't make a list but you can bet that Hallie would make the top of my list as well....along with many, many other people! With an enormity of things to be thankful for you'd think I would've had a smile on my face and a heart full of gratitude. Well, more like a heart full of attitude. To be honest I have been stressing out about it. I'm not sure if it was the thought of shoving a week of work into three days or the fact that I would be celebrating the holiday without my dad or sister this year. But now that the weekend is almost over and I ended up being blessed with unexpected visits from both dad and sister I've got to admit it was a spectacular weekend after all. I must say I was being a Negative Nancy for no reason at all. Here's a bit of what our Thanksgiving day consisted of....
The turkey, er, I mean rooster was crowing a little too early that morning. This has been a disturbing trend that she has started the past two weeks. It has had me in sort of a tizzy longing for the days of sleeping in til 8:30. Hallie was super happy as I'd suspected since I told her that when she woke up that morning we'd be going to Nanny and Papa's house. She hadn't forgotten and was ready to get dressed immediately. No time to spare! She had some turkey to eat! But she didn't seem to argue when I told her we had a bit of time to play that morning before we left. She got busy wrecking the playroom while I prepared a corn casserole and cranberries and finished the topping for the pumpkin cheesecake I'd make the night before. Watching Hal chow down on breakfast just stirred up my appetite that much more. Riley headed outdoors immediately upon waking to work on his shed. His tiny apprentice had fun dancing around on the shed platform until she realized that the sound of the saw was something she could do without. Hallie and I posted up on the couch that beautiful fall morning and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. There's just something about tradition and history that makes it so special to watch it with my daughter. She was mesmerized by all of the familiar giants friends she saw floating above the streets of New York City. I somehow managed to convince Riley that it was time to get the Christmas tubs down from the attic. My unplanned tactics worked rather well if I do say so myself. I simply pulled the ladder down, climbed on up and waited for him to say "babe, you're going to fall, let me help!" Ok, if you say so babe. ;) His words were "I don't want to get it down now because I don't want to get all sweaty and have to take another shower." I rolled my eyes thinking "whatever, it's not that hard." So up I went and down the tubs and trees came. And finally ten minutes later I trudged down the ladder looking like a sweaty mess. I swallowed my pride and admitted that the attic job was not so easy. But I was overjoyed to have it done and I immediately got to work lugging the tubs inside to check out the season's goodies. Pretty soon it was time to get our turkey on. Hal was lookin' cute in her Thanksgiving outfit. Well that is until she stripped the matching hat and shoes off and traded them in for some messy hair and her frog boots....
Still cute I suppose ;)
"If you smile for the camera I'll let you keep the frog boots on"
The boots stayed on and in turn so did the smile she that I'd requested. Having Nanny and Meme May around only helped with the happiness....
Hallie got busy doing what she does best. She hunted down the new Thanksgiving themed toy that Nanny bought....
"Hmm, I guess the pilgrims didn't wear green frog boots..."
The table was set and the family had arrived. Nanny always does such a wonderful job without decorating and setting the table....
The girlies were looking mighty sweet in their matching outfits loving on Nanny...
Katie, Kylie and I attempted to get some good shots of the two turkeys outside before they were covered in their Thanksgiving feast. This proved to be as difficult as you would imagine posing a one and two year old would be....
"Hey Carmen, let's totally not look at the camera...pretend that you don't hear the moms."
"Good job, keep looking away...."
"Surely they'll give up soon..."
The silly gals started rocking the bench back and forth discovering how awfully fun it was to let their heads bang against the back of it. But still no eye contact with the camera....
I soon gave up on getting the perfect shot of the girls and figured any picture of them smiling was good enough for me....
The smile continued once they came inside from frolicking in the yard. Yes folks, it was chow time....er, I mean time to eat Thanksgiving dinner. The girls were latched into their chairs and ready to pray....
"Hey Hal, do you think I'll like turkey? It's my first time"
"It's simply delicious!"
I got such a kick out of the girlies sucking down their drinks and digging through their plates full of an assortment of foods....
The eight of us filled up the table and had a fabulous, delicious scrumptious, perfect lunch together. Did I mention that it was delicious?!?! Luke deep fried the bird this year and it couldn't have been more juicy and flavor-filled. I couldn't help but save a little bit of room for the pumpkin cheesecake I'd made the night before. It had my mouth watering with anticipation all morning....
This did not disappoint.
Before long the girls were starting to become a bit delirious once the turkey coma started to come on. They hopped up on Nanny's bed and rolled around like wild monkeys, I mean turkeys....
These smiles are just priceless....
After cleaning up and saying goodbye we began our second leg of the holiDAY. We parted ways with Riley who spent the afternoon working on his shed and going hunting. Us girls drove to Meme Donna's house to spend the afternoon/evening with Lisa, David, Dara, Sharon, Johnny, Eric and Meme. The Detrixhe clan was a bit sparse this year for various reasons but our little group had a great relaxing time. Even though Hallie had chosen to forego her afternoon nap she was on her best behavior and silly as ever. She gave a nap a shot with Dara but it was short-lived and soon she was stringing her box of toys all over the house. The guys watched the Cowboys game while the girls chatted in the kitchen and grazed on leftovers. Ok, maybe I was the only one grazing but it sounded better to say all of us did. Hallie and Dara were the best of buds as always....
Lil Miss was mighty filthy by early evening and made quite the fashion statement walking around on the porch minus her shirt with her pants pulled up to her chest....
Always searching for food or drink
"I'm down on my luck....got a shirt I could borrow? Or better yet, got any food I can eat??"
Lisa and Hal played horsey on the porch....
Hal made the rules and told her how it was gonna be...
Finally she showed some signs of wearing out and went back to the bedroom and snuggled up for what I thought would be some shut-eye.....
She was only foolin' us because she was back up in a matter on minutes begging for some dinner. Lisa spoiled us all by making some yummy noodles with some of the leftover turkey. YUM! We loaded up on leftovers for dinner (isn't that the best part about the day?!)....
Meme was all smiles with her great granddaughter running around all day. These two together make my heart smile....
We were missing grandpa and mom this year. It was the first Thanksgiving without him and the second without her. It just seems wrong all over again. While I'm managing the sadness of missing special loved ones I am trying my darndest to make the holidays EXTRA special for Hallie. I can't believe that we've had three Thanksgiving with our little turkey. What a blessing she has been to the family over these past two eventful years. A bright ray of sunshine in the midst of a lot of change. A true blessing. It's hard to put the love I have for family into words so here's how I see things.....
GOD + FAMILY = THANKSGIVING.
Simple as that.
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