A Thankful Day

I think the fantastic part of our yesterday was that the day was filled with laughter and lots of chatter.  My sister-in-law's parents drove out from a couple states away just as the snow was hitting our neck of the woods. They made it over three passes just in the nick of time. They were able to spend a few days prepping and relaxing with their girl and her family before Thanksgiving arrived.

The dinner was so perfect and beautifully planned with all the traditional trimmings. My brother took the risk to move the turkey from the oven on one side of the kitchen to the opposite side in order to carve. Some of us had to leave the room while he attempted this feat. All turned out well; no turkey on the floor.

My sister-in-law created the brilliant plan of covering the kid's table with construction paper and added two pails of crayons for the kids to entertain themselves during the dinner. I know the kids are older now, but it completely worked at getting them to stay at the table longer; versus running back upstairs to socialize and hangout in their playroom. We are one big family who love to tell stories and enjoy laughter together.

This is the only photo captured of the children - I grabbed them as they were coming down for dinner and had my hubby take a quick picture. Otherwise, seriously, they were very happy and content playing with my nieces Flip video making music videos upstairs. My son loved working the video and the girls enjoyed dressing up in their stash of post-costumes and signing and dancing to their music. Their imagination flies and works so well together.

One of the traditions we have started when the kids were toddlers was the Thankful Tree. My sister-in-law had made this back then and has kept it. Every year we each add a leaf with a written message of what we are Thankful for that year. The tree limbs are freshly cut, but the paper leaves are kept throughout the years, grouped together by name, and rehung. It is always a joy to reread prior years Thanks, especially those of the children. I am thankful for pilgrims and turkey - my favorite of my daughter's at age four.

Each of my nieces have their own cat and this little sweetie enjoyed hanging out on the dinning room chairs. The other cat is black and white, and she was more curious to move quickly whenever I tried to take her photo. This fluff of love was more content at me snapping away with my flash.

On the way home we passed this awesome house and saw this in the window:

What a perfect way to end the day with visions of A Christmas Story movie in a window! A warm Thanksgiving and a great start to the Christmas Season!

(as always you can click on photos to enlarge)