Thanksgiving 2011

WARNING:  Picture Overload!

 

I love Thanksgiving.  A week off from school.  A week to celebrate being thankful for what you have.  Being with family.  And most of all, the beginning of the Christmas season!  The first specials come on TV.  Christmas music on the radio.  Putting up the Christmas tree.  Just enough Christmas to enjoy before all of the stress and hustle and bustle begins.  You're just at the beginning, with a feeling of anticipation, not worn down by the endless stream of parties/programs/concerts/projects. 

Ah...another gift.  166.  Thanksgiving

We all slept in Thanksgiving day (til 8:00 for me!) and then packed up in the SUV and headed for Grandma's house.

My brother, sister, and her kids were already there.  We couldn't wait to see everyone, especially Clare and Cole, my sister's twins.  The last time we had seen them had been in the summer.  We were supposed to go to their first birthday party in August, but for a fateful encounter with an elliptical machine.

When we got there, they had just woken up from a nap, and I think the sheer enormity of our clan overwhelmed them a bit.

A little food in the belly, and they were all smiles...

 The guys, hanging out "together" while the women did the cookin and watchin the kids thing...

 Time to eat!

(look how skinny my sister is...so jealous!  And she just had twins a year ago!)

I volunteered Daryl and myself to sit at the kids' table.  I remembered how mad Kathleen used to get when she was included with the kids, just because she was the youngest of the older people, so I didn't want to make Maddy or Sarah do it. 

 Sisters....

 Char had three bites of mashed potatoes and a roll and decided she was ready for some rappin'.

 Before we left, we wanted to try to get a picture of all of the cousins...

 (note my children all sitting and smiling nicely....)

 My brother, my sister, and me.

 So many gifts that day....

167.  My sister as a mommy.  She is 11 years younger than I am, so she is always about 15 in my head (which makes me about 26...I like it!)  She is so good with those babies....so disciplined and laid back and always on a schedule.  Sniff sniff....I think she's all grown up on me!

168.  Clare

169. Cole

170.  Watching how my sister and her husband work together as a team so well, so easily, so naturally.  Makes me happy to see her in a happy marriage.

171.  Seeing my brother.  It's been a while. Shamefully, we both live in the smae metropolitan area.  He's way north of Atlanta, and I'm south.  We never see each other, which is sad to me.  It was good to see him too!

172.  Mom's good china.

173.  Setting the table with my mom.

174.  Making our water glasses "sing"

175.  laughing about old times

176.  enjoying Thanksgiving without it being all about food--I stayed within my point range and even managed to lose 2.2 pounds that week (then fell apart last week, but that's a story for a different post)

178.  All of us together in the same car at the same time

179.  Daryl, at home, with us, all day

180.  Christmas music!