Happy Early Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is Kevin's absolute favorite holiday. Why?

A. There are no religious obligations
B. There are no requirements to purchase presents
C. It's close to his birthday and his mom always makes him a cake
D. It is expected that he will eat, watch football, and nap (in no particular order and each activity will occur more than once)

So, when we first started dating seriously, he made it very clear to me that E-V-E-R-Y Thanksgiving would be spent with his family at his parents' house. OK by me, that just means I get to call the shots on every other day of the year!

Since his parents live two hours away, this means that we celebrate Thanksgiving with my family either before or after the holiday.

This actually works out for my side of the family pretty well. My siblings aren't required to rush around from house to house overstuffing themselves on this relaxing holiday. And this has enabled my parents to take the opportunity to trek down to their digs in Florida and spend the holiday with my mom's sisters. Everyone is happy.

So this year, we celebrated Thanksgiving EARLY EARLY EARLY at our house. It was wonderful.

Kev made a juicy ham, my mom made THE best mashed potatoes, my sister made a tasty salad, my niece (who's 12!) made the pumpkin pies, I made bacon wrapped water chestnut's which were an enormous hit and there were several requests to make them again at Christmas (thanks for the recipe Patty!), and my brother's baby's momma made some yummy brownies (and apparently a fruit salad that was supposed to be in the shape of a turkey that my brother wrecked because he cut the watermelon the wrong way so she trashed it rather than bring a less than perfect creation to the feast...Jer wasn't supposed to tell us that story, but if you'll remember from an earlier post, my brother is a bit of a rule breaker). And, of course, my dad asked the blessing.

I am blessed in so many ways, but most abundantly by my truly genuine, loving, caring, and forgiving family.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!