Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving this year was a quiet one. It turned out to be just our family with my parents. And I masterfully cornered them in to doing it at their new, beautiful home. It was our first time staying there and we gave the accomodations a five star-plus review. It's so fun seeing my parents enjoy this phase of  life--and we can't help but enjoy it as well!

My dad took the reigns on dinner this year (I did do the relish tray) and we took care of the pies. And by that I mean I purchased some lovely specimans from Kneaders and Phil baked his traditional apple.

 

Is there really anything better than hanging out on Thanksgiving morning as the house floods with the amazing smells of turkey and stuffing? I'm really not sure if there is...

We dined in the afternoon and then, headed over to see Big Hero 6 for our traditional Thanksgiving movie run. We may or may have had a Black Friday run-in with Wal-Mart on our way home, which I'm pretty sure we deemed "not worth it". 

 But other than that it was pretty perfect and delightful.

Ya know, I think the older I get the more Thanksgiving is making its way to the top of "My Favorite Holiday" list. (Not that it had much to climb in the first place). But I just love everything about it--and that all it's festivities are circled around gratitude--well, it's just a really good thing to celebrate.

So Thankful

Starting the evening before Thanksgiving, began the funnest 24 hours I've had in a loooong time. How fitting it was that our Thanksgiving celebration included the things I am most grateful for. Phil, my babies, my family (sans Tyler & co. :( ), fun activities, cozy home and goooood food.

We started at Autumn's with pizza and a dance party. (Why don't I have pictures of this?! It's criminal.)
A combo that, without fail, is always a winner. Thanks to that Wii game, we now know Autumn will be trying out for the next So You Think You Can Dance audition. My mom was just so grateful that 13 years of dance lessons for the both of us didn't go to waste.

My parents stayed the night at our house, which only added to the excitment. My dad and I got up early and started cooking preparations. Thankfully, my dad was in charge of the turkey and the stuffing (which probably was a big part of why this day was so wonderful). Maybe its because we all had different assignments but the cooking went nice and smooth. Phil made, what is quickly becoming, his famous apple pie. Autumn & co arrived with the rolls and (more) pie and the feast began! And feast we did! Good conversation provided a necessary break in order for me to make room to down one more helping of my turkey/gravy/potates/roll combo.

After leisurely cleaning up, we caught a matinee of Disney's Frozen. Not only was it delightful, but Hazel sat quite contently on our laps through the. whole. thing. A Thanksgiving Day miracle! And as an extra bonus it just so happened the random sitting arrangement we found ourselves in had me and Autumn sitting by each other, which if you've seen the movie, you know why it was a fun switch-up to laugh and cuddle with my sister during a movie for once. Sisterly love conquers all!  She might deny the cuddling, but it's her word against mine.

And if that wasn't enough--we still had pie to eat. Blessed pie. With even more blessed company. My Uncle Kelly,  Aunt Robin and their three too-cool-for-school kids helped us devour the goodness. We chatted and ate well into the night...or rather, well, into our kids' bedtimes. It was the perfect way to end the day!

For me, this type of fun is one of the choicest things this life has to offer! (I'm not going to lie our pie spread was a little bit amazing.)