Four Thanksgivings

This year Thanksgiving was a little different. Josh and I were blessed to be able to see a lot of family - extended and immediate - and literally had four Thanksgivings.
Thanksgiving 1: An early taste of all the delicious food that means "put on your stretchy pants and buckle down for a third serving of sweet potatoes."
On Sunday, November 21, we shared an early Thanksgiving with Josh's mom and Josh's siblings, namely, Casey and Becky and their children, Kaya and Jamison; Amanda and Kagan; and last but not least, Braden, the youngest Robison. (punctuation?) Josh fried his first turkey (it was a pretty big deal, we read up on it for a few days before to make sure we weren't going to burn the house down) and it was delicious. I made potatoes and sweet potatoes. Becky made stuffing and gravy. Amanda made a graham cracker dessert, and Sue made my favorite pretzel Jell-O. It was good to spend time with them...a great way to start the week : )
Thanksgiving 2: The real deal.
Turkey Day Thursday we spent at my MorMor and Papa's house with my mom's side of the family. Amazing food, including a bacon mushroom salad I surprisingly loved and Josh will continue to salivate over provided by my Aunt Brooke. Jonathan and Tricia drove from Colorado to be here so that was a treat. He and I played flute and piano together at the request of my Papa. Later that evening, Rachel and our cousin Kirsten came over to spend the night so we could wake up to a day of Black Friday shopping! Yes, I agree it's one more way to commercialize Christmas, but there is no harm in saving money on Christmas gifts.
Thanksgiving 3: Black Friday and a Thanksgiving with Josh's dad and grandparents
Every year Josh and I go Black Friday Christmas shopping together. We pick out each other's Christmas gifts (not much of a surprise on Christmas but we still love it) and just spend the day together. This year I went shopping with Rachel and Kirsten starting at 5am, got home at 9:30, and then went shopping with Josh. We got home around 12 and took a 3 hour nap! After the nap we went to Josh's grandparents house and had pizza for dinner with Josh's dad and uncle/aunt/cousins as well. After we ate, we decorated his grandma's tree. This was probably my favorite thing that happened all week. It was neat to see all of her ornaments and find out any meaning behind them. Josh's grandma is a very special lady and you could tell she was so happy to have a lot of her kids and grandkids there to share in helping decorate the tree.
Thanksgiving 4: Nana's house and the Great Leslie
On Saturday night, my family and Josh and I decided to visit my Nana and have a Thanksgiving leftover dinner. I've decided that throughout all these indulgences, I have consumed about 2 sticks of butter...the thought made me briefly reconsider making chocolate cookies yesterday, but only briefly. Anyhow, my Nana is an amazing woman. She grew up in Hollywood and as a result, loves these spectacular old-timey movies. The one we decided to watch is called The Great Race All of the Luke children love this movie. It was a staple on road trips, so how could someone not love it? Well, we had two new Great Race viewers, Josh, and Jonathan's wife Tricia. I think the breaking point for both of them was when the main character, The Great Leslie, gives a sultry, sensual stare at Natalie Wood, and someone producing or directing had the bright idea to make his eyes actually sparkle. Well, Josh became quickly jealous of this eye-twinkling ability and we decided to go home. Blaming it on my needing to prepare a lesson and the snow storm coming. I will still insist at one point or another that we finish the epic film.


So those were our four Thanksgivings. Each one I am grateful for and grateful that we have that many special people in our lives to spend holidays with.
To end the week, Josh and I built a snowman in our front yard yesterday. We decided to name him Dick Butkis, after a famous football player whose parents obviously did not love him. (Football and Sunday go together for Josh, hence the name).
It's a little grainy because it was taken on Josh's phone and it was snowing, but here's a better one that I took today.
Happy Holidays!