Thanksgiving Day

We had such a blessed Thanksgiving. We used Nick's vacation days to visit the Roarks in May for a week instead of going there for Thanksgiving, so it was our first holiday at home with just our family. It was such a sweet time of thankfulness.

However, I am absolutely devastated. I accidentally deleted the pictures from the memory card. Again. I have no idea why this is happening, or what is different. I have blogged for years, and have never had this happen. Especially twice in one week. I just sat at the computer and cried. It was such a perfect day, and it was our first holiday together, so I'm just really sad about not having those precious pictures to help us remember the day.

Anyway, I'll just make a really wordy post so that we can read this and remember.

I made sweet potato biscuits for breakfast, and they were so yummy. We sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top, and the boys loved them. I'd love for that to become a Thanksgiving breakfast tradition.

(Imagine a picture of sweet potato biscuits here.)

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and left it on while the boys played around the house. They'd yell out the names of the balloons and run to the TV when they recognized certain characters. Emmaline took a long morning nap, and played in her swing.

(Imagine a picture of the boys standing in front of the TV in their pjs.)

Then, we made Indian headdresses with construction paper, pom pom balls, and feathers. We wrote "Give thanks to the Lord!" on the headbands and they wore them almost all day. We also made 'hand turkeys' by tracing around their hands, cutting it out and gluing on feathers, wiggly eyes, pipe cleaner legs and a beak. Elijah loves using scissors, as most preschoolers do, and he cut his turkey's head off. We got a good laugh out of that and taped it back on.

(Insert picture of Elijah holding up his turkey while wearing his Indian headband. And then a picture of both boys together, with Elijah smiling sweetly and Hudson whining about Elijah standing too close to him.)

Then we had our Thanksgiving lunch outside on the picnic table. It was a gorgeous day, and the boys were loving the sunshine (it's been dreary here), so I figured eating outside would be more fun. I set the picnic table with our fall placemats and orange plates. The boys wore their headdresses and looked so festive. I knew my limitations this year with 2 sick children and a 3 month old baby, and knew that spending hours in the kitchen to make the traditional meal would not be wise. We wanted to enjoy time together, and to enjoy THEM, rather than the food. And I am so glad I did. I picked up a turkey and sides from a local restaurant, and it was such a perfect idea. I look forward to the day when I can cook, since I do love that, but this season of my life is just not the ideal time to do that. And I was perfectly ok with it. I think I surprised myself. I'm such a sucker for traditions.

(Imagine a picture of our picnic table in the pretty sunshine with festive decorations and a traditional Thanksgiving meal on our plates. The boys had their hats on and smiled like goofballs at the camera. Emmaline sat in her pink bouncy seat with a floral hat on and sucked on her fists.)

(Nick also took a bunch of pictures of Emmaline's face and her little hat. They were such sweet pictures. She was beautiful. I'm tearing up as I think about losing those.)

We came inside and the boys took naps while I made cupcakes for a dessert.

The Owens and Rileys called us and offered to share their food with us. They invited us to eat with them, but with our HFM germs, we took them up on the offer to take some food home. Oh. My. Goodness. I even took a picture of the spread of food that we had for dinner. This is what they sent home with me: turkey, ham, gravy, 3 different kinds of stuffing, candied yams, mashed potatoes, hashbrown casserole, green beans, lima beans, macaroni & cheese, asparagus casserole, rolls, pumpkin muffins, slices of pecan pie, apple pie, chocolate chess pie, coconut cake and chocolate cupcakes. Um. Yes. We were reminded once again of how blessed we are, to have so much food to eat. And to have our wonderful church body that cares for us in so many ways.

After stuffing our faces, I made the boys some turkey cupcakes. I will post a picture of those tomorrow since we still have those cupcakes, and I'm sure they'll want one. Elijah laughed when he saw them, and I took some fun pictures of the boys eating their cupcakes and getting chocolate all over their faces.

We sang songs about giving thanks to the Lord as we played throughout the day. We talked about scriptures that command us to give thanks. At dinner, we talked about what we were thankful for, and I jotted down a few things that we talked about.

Nick:
God, Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and forgiveness of sins.

Elijah:
winter and snow, everything God has made for me, going to Heaven, family, lizards, Christmas, a bathroom to poop and teetee in, beds to sleep in, a house

Hudson:
milkshakes

Allison:
Christ, the Gospel, our families and children, our Church and running water

We truly are so blessed. And we are grateful.