A Fluffy Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

No matter how much we enjoy a car trip to see family over Thanksgiving (and we did enjoy it!), it’s still good to be home once the visiting is done. After school on Tuesday, we started our car trip, and four hours later we arrived at Drew’s brother’s house in Charlotte, NC to spend the night. The next morning, we drove another four hours and landed in Knoxville, TN, home of my Grandma, where we met my mom and dad, my brother and his wife, my uncle, my mom’s aunt, and of course my Grandma. After visiting all Wednesday afternoon, the boys got to spend the night at their Great-Grandma’s house with their grandparents and Drew and I took Boo to the hotel for a not-very-restful night. Boo does not like her pack-n-play, and after a fitful night of waking and crying, we finally let her sleep in our bed. Meaning Boo slept peacefully the rest of the night, but her mom and dad did not due to her pulling the blankets off the bed thinking they were her blankie and her bed hogging and because we were afraid we’d squash her if we fell into too deep a sleep.

On Thanksgiving Day, all twelve of us gathered again at Grandma’s house (sounds kind of like a song, doesn’t it? Over the river and through the woods……). We watched the Macy’s parade and enjoyed my mom’s wonderful cooking (we were told to stay out of the kitchen and just enjoy) and had a good time with all of us there together. It’s been quite a long time since we’ve all been together like that. The only downside was that it drizzled and was cold all day, so the kids were cooped up inside, but they did pretty well at not being too awfully squirrely. Then another night at the hotel for Boo and her parents that was slightly more restful, but not much. We picked up the boys from Grandma’s house on Friday morning where they were having a nice country breakfast and enjoying themselves with their grandparents. All in all, we really enjoyed seeing everyone and the kids did remarkably well at getting along and playing with Uncle Lane’s old Tinker Toys and the dominoes we bought them. (Box of dominoes for each boy at one dollar a piece = hours of entertainment thanks to the handy dandy Dollar General store next to the hotel we stayed in.)

After breakfast we loaded up the van again and drove four hours back to Drew’s brother’s house where their parents and aunt and uncle had spent Thanksgiving. We spent the afternoon enjoying their company and then spent the night there again. On Saturday we said good bye to Uncle Matt and met some friends for lunch. The last time we had seen these friends was seven years ago, but they had been our original care group leaders from the Sunday school class in Florida that we still miss so much. Now they live in Charlotte and we got to have a really fun catch-up time over lunch with them and their little boy who is Boo’s age. It’s wonderful to reconnect with friends and feel like almost no time has passed at all. After lunch, we drove the four hours to home and arrived around supper time yesterday.

Whew. It was a fun week, but tiring. You should see the laundry……

Oh, and I mustn't forget to mention the gorgeous leaves we saw on our way through the mountains. It was a feast for the eyes! And on the way home, there was snow in the higher mountains. God's glorious creation is absolutely beautiful.

So, we’re glad to be home, and we’re also very thankful for our family and friends and the time we had to spend with them.