Thanks for the Memories

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday. After three days of training for a support center (to be explained in another post), I left Wednesday night to brave the traffic at the airport. This year would only be my third Thanksgiving at home (in Indiana), so I am not used to flying for the holidays. (We are the driving kind of family.)

When I was growing up, we would go to Kalamazoo, Michigan to visit my mom's side of the family. (My Dad's parents were already in Florida for the winter by that time.) I don't know exactly what is the standard, but I think our family is slightly larger than the average (on my Mom's side... my Dad is an only child, so there wasn't a crowd when we got together.) Most people in my Mom's family like to cook (and are good at it, from what I've been told), so a lot of the day is spent in the kitchen (as I'm sure is true for other families on Thanksgiving). One thing I think is unique about my Mom's family is the musical talent. (I'd love to expand on this, but I think I'll save it for another post). After meals at family gatherings, there would always be several people playing music together. (Not quite the VanTrapp's from The Sound of Music, but I can see where you would make the connection).

Anyways, this year it was a bit smaller. My Aunt Margaret, Uncle Mark, and Cousin Phil came down to visit for Thanksgiving. This was our first Thanksgiving without Grandma, so it difficult for many of us. I was grateful that part of our extended family came down to spend time with us. Before we ate said a prayer and ate dinner, I asked everyone to go around and say what they were thankful for this year. (I know, I know... some of you probably think this is cheesy, but how will you ever know what other people think without asking them?) For dinner we had turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, cranberry relish (*loved* this- I need to get the recipe from my mom), gravy, green beans, and probably several other things I am forgetting. My favorite part of the dinner is that we had 5 pies for 7 people! Pumpkin, chess, snow-capped chocolate, pecan, and raisin cream. My favorite type of pie is chess pie (my Grandma used to make this one), which is basically eggs, butter, vanilla, and a lot of sugar (which explains why I like it).

Here are a few pictures from the day...

My cousin Phil and my brother Ryan playing music in the living room

Isn't this a good picture of Phil?

I don't like turkey, but it looked good enough to take a picture

My Aunt Marget, Uncle Mark, and Phil (notice my cat, Rocky, on Uncle Mark's lap)

I went over to Nick's parents' house (but forgot to take pictures! Sorry!), then he came over to meet my family

Here is the Christmas tree my Mom has in the entry way- this picture does not do it justice

A close-up of one of the ornaments she made

I promise to write more tomorrow night. I would stay up later and give more details about the weekend, but I have to get up a little earlier than usual to go to the University of Rhode Island for a lecture at 8 AM. (For those of you who have spent any length of time around me know that getting up early isn't necessarily my strong suit. *However,* I have made significant progress in this area. I know it sounds very juvenile, but I'm proud of myself for improving on something that I have struggled with for so long. I have been early every day for over a month now!)

Look for more on my extended weekend in Indy, which includes a night out with friends, the tree lighting on the circle, and seeing Lisa's brand new house!