thankful-er + shebang + happy

Thanksgiving Day has always been.....the holiday before Christmas.
Christmas is my favorite holiday, always will be.
You'll not get any apologies from me on that one, but this year, I have loved Thanksgiving!
The weather. The dinner. The friends. The family. The food. The church services. The decorations.
The whole shebang.
Even the turkey, and that's saying alot....I don't like turkey. But this year, I ate it with gusto. I drew the line at pumpkin pie though. I cannot eat pumpkin pie.
Maybe it's that I feel more thankful than usual this year.
I'm thankful-er.
This year Thanksgiving didn't get lost in the Christmas anticipation, it just made Christmas seem even better.
It was like Christmas and Thanksgiving were holding hands. Go ahead, you can laugh at my metaphor, but it's the only way I can think of to describe it.

I'm going to give you the play-by-play....because it makes me happy to do so.

Blizzards and snow this week. Maybe you don't care for a big fat blizzard, but I. love. it.
I love being snowed in. We weren't actually snowed in, but I did manage to get my car stuck in a big snow drift....in the driveway. Tim had to utilize his North Dakota Blizzard Skills to dig me out.
I love curling up in bed with Emma and Shirley Temple's Curly Top.
I love looking out the window at all the snow with a cup of hot chocolate in my hand.
I love going out in my snow boots, and puffy coat.
And, although I hate the bad roads, I love feeling like Super Woman when I get safely from point A to point B.
I even made it up the Highlands hill, while doing some serious, "Please, God, please don't let me slide back down this hill. Pleasepleaseplease."

I love this one. She looks so chubby in her snow suit!

I'm dog-sitting for Jack and Mary Ann all week, and making a few bucks. Yay for $$$!
And, I'm glad, Jack, that you were able to go down to Boise after all, in spite of the weather, although you could've had Thanksgiving with us if you had stayed....

I cooked. Yep, you heard me right, I cooked.
I made homemade mac n' cheese, and Oreo balls.
The mac n' cheese was a hit, but the Oreo balls....well, at least they tasted good. I think the white chocolate was defective. It wouldn't stick. The stupid stuff stuck perfectly well when Karen took over though.
I looked murderous looks at that white chocolate when Karen walked out.

Can you tell which are mine, and which ones are Karen's?

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Derek and Lisa's, and ended up having a huge crowd of people.
I loved everything about it.
Being there for 7 hours because no one wanted to leave.
Having so much food, it was ridiculous.

Hearing Tim say that he cries when he watches The Biggest Loser.
Trying to keep the babies from falling down the stairs....forty million times. It was like they had a death wish.

Meeting new friends. Hi there, Talia! Nice to meet you again:)
Seeing old friends.
Hugging old friends.

The grown-up's table

The single's table. Even Molly had to sit with us.

Pumpkin rolls.
Watching the snow fall, and discussing at length whether or not we would have another record breaker snow.
Playing Apples to Apples, and laughing our heads off.
Watching the kids watch TV.

Engrossed

Sparkling cider.
Tracy's spicy hot cider stuff.
Watching the kids sled off the roof.
Going to the farmer's field for some more serious sledding in the dark.
Lugging back a bunch of tired kiddos.

Taking pictures of everyone having a good time.
Eating and eating some more.
Just sitting around talking with each other.

The hostess taking a break.

It was a wonderful day. (and Heather came over that night for a night-before-Black-Friday-shopping slumber party)
I loved every. single. bit. of it.

Thank you, Lord.