Turkey Day

It's coming up soon! How quickly it approached after Halloween. It's pretty early this year. Usually falling in the last week of November. But this year, it's on the 22nd. That's barely 3 weeks into November. It means a long Christmas season, but the short Thanksgiving season is throwing me a bit.

We bought a new Christmas tree to put up this weekend. I am too excited about it. It's beautiful and will last us years. Last year's was perfect for our apartment, but we needed something taller and fuller this year. So a great deal came up at Garden Ridge. I jumped on the opportunity. I will show pictures after we get the place all decorated. It'll also be our first year for outdoor decorations. We had a little strand on the balcony last year, but this year we get to have the full shebang of lights and yard decor. So excited!

But back to Thanksgiving. I feel like every year we have the same tradition - and I love it. Starting a couple of years ago, the Longs joined in my annual celebrating and it feels even more complete now. Thursday morning, I wake up to the parade and a yummy breakfast (this year I am planning on sausage pancake muffins) with a cup of coffee. This year I will do a little cooking too to help my mom out. She has trusted me with the sweet potatoes and green bean casserole. This is a huge deal. Huge.

The first meal will be with Phillip's family. We eat something in smaller scale. Last year was at Texas Land and Cattle (they have a DELICIOUS modern take on the Thanksgiving meal). This year we will be guests at his grandmother's housing community. Excited for her to show us off to her friends and for us to spend time with her.

The second meal will be with my family. We have a later meal. That's partly due to the addition of another family meal for us, the Cowboys game, and the fact that it has always been more of an early dinner rather than a lunch for my family. So it all works out.

After dinner, the game, looking through the Black Friday ads, and possibly a nap, the Morrisons come over for dessert. They bring theirs and we add it to ours. The rest of the evening is spent nibbling on sweets (and maybe some leftovers), catching up, lots of laughing, cigar smoking for the guys, glasses of wine for the girls, and just talking.

Some years we have more guests, some years we have less. Some years the times change up. Some years we bring friends, extra family, or even our significant others to "meet [both sets of] the parents" for the first time. Some years we tell meaningful stories and some years it's just joking around.

Regardless, we hold our tradition together. We listen with our hearts. We laugh until we cry. It brings us together and keeps us together. Everyone is welcome and those unable to make it are always missed.

This is our Thanksgiving.
And I love it.
It's home.