The Thanksgiving Day Recap

Good morning!  I decided to start the week out with the Thanksgiving Day recap.

As always, we spent Thanksgiving Day with my aunts on my dad’s side.  They hold the annual Thanksgiving gathering at their small country church.  This year’s gathering was just a little different, a little bittersweet.  We had several out-of-town families who didn’t make it this year.  Health conditions kept them from this, as well as several in-town family members who had health issues.  We also missed my uncle, who passed away on Thanksgiving Day last year.  My dad has been gone seven years now.  As much as we are so thankful for the times we can all be together, we sure do miss the Thanksgivings of yesteryears.  I think, altogether, we had 16 of us this year.  A much smaller crowd, for sure.

My aunts always decorate their church so beautifully.  Here are a few pictures of the beautiful decor:

Our Thanksgiving Day

Mr. Turkey and this beautiful artwork greet you as you enter the small foyer.

The beautiful piano holds a cornucopia and another gorgeous turkey.

A close-up of the turkey lamp. It’s my favorite Thanksgiving decoration in the church, and I always look forward to seeing it.

The food spread was wonderful! Everyone brought a dish or two, and I could never get enough of Aunt C’s cornbread dressing. I am so thankful she shared her recipe with me a few years ago.

And, of course, I can’t share about our Thanksgiving without showing you my plate! Haha!

Can you tell I love cranberry sauce just a little bit?

We helped my aunts clean up and left the church close to three that afternoon.  We stopped at Walgreens on the way home.  I wanted to see if they had a hair product I was looking for.  They had something pretty close, so I purchased that and quickly got out of there.  My boys were waiting for me, so I didn’t want to make them wait long.  Then we headed home, where we all took the traditional Thanksgiving Day nap.

The evening was spent watching the annual Egg Bowl game between the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and Mississippi State.  Sadly, the Ole Miss Rebels lost, but it was a pretty exciting game.  We warmed up leftovers from lunch, and I did a little blog reading on my iPad.

Black Friday

We slept in Friday morning and had no intention of going out into the Black Friday craziness.   My sweet husband pulled out the Christmas decor from the downstairs closet, and we planned to decorate the house.  We got the tree up, and several sections of lights didn’t work.  We tried tightening up things but eventually gave up because decorating the tree made no sense until we remedied the light situation.  So, I turned my attention to laundry and piddling around the house.

I did end up making two purchases online that day.  Bath & Body Works had their soaps at Buy 3, Get 3 Free.  I wanted two specifically for our home (holiday scents), and the remaining four will be for Christmas happies.  I also ordered my mom’s birthday present from Amazon.  I’ll share that later in case she happens to be reading this! *wink*  I try not to look too hard at Black Friday sales because I always find many things I’d love to have for myself.  Does anyone else have this problem? Ha! I made a mental note to save some “fun money” for next year’s sales to grab a few personal things I see on great sales.  Other than that, I have made zero progress in purchasing Christmas presents.  I do know what I want to get my husband, mother, and a couple of cousins, but those can be purchased locally.  I have a plan!

Back To Reality

The Teen was up early this morning and showering at 5 AM!  I stayed in bed and cuddled with kitty Jake until about 5:45.  The Teen was all keyed up about a group project due today.  As always, with group projects, some people don’t fulfill their obligations, which makes the rest of the group look bad or ruins the project.  My kid takes this stuff very seriously.  Thankfully his teacher also wanted to know who did what on the project so he won’t be penalized for someone else’s actions or lack thereof, I should say.

After I dropped him off at school, I returned home and finished dusting and vacuuming upstairs.  I also have the beds stripped; everyone will have fresh, clean sheets by this afternoon.  The Christmas music is going on the TV, and kitty Jake is upstairs napping.  I’ll be helping my mama tomorrow to get to a doctor’s appointment.  We’ve also got severe weather tomorrow, so I’m not looking forward to that.

I sure hope you’ve all had a great Thanksgiving.  As the years fly by and things change, and people are no longer with us, more than anything, I am so thankful for the wonderful memories.