Thanksgiving - the recap

Thanksgiving was awesome this year. Fun times with family and friends and more yummy food than I'd like to talk about.

Riding the airplane alone with Annabella? Not so much fun it turns out. Lots of struggling to handle all the stuff (even though I packed very light and Jason had taken most of our stuff up already). Lots of screaming (Annabella's, not mine). Lots of running around like a maniac (well, this was both of us...she ran, I followed.) There was even a diaper incident or 2. Oh, and a possible flashing of an old college friend while trying to discreetly nurse Annabella in the airport. So pretty much everything I could have imagined going wrong kinda did go wrong. But then she slept like a rock on the second flight, and everything was good.

Still though, we're taking the car from now on. Or at least I'm not flying alone with her. No thanks. Especially when we figured out that driving through the night is really not so bad and that she'll actually mainly sleep in the car. And especially now that I remember that I can take 5 unpaid days off a year...and that our 2 plane tickets made my extra days at work close to even. :(

But yay family, friends, and food!

On Thursday we went to Jason's Aunt Jo's. There were close to 30 people there, and outside of an incident with an over-excited teenager and a yippy little dog when we first arrived, everything went great! Annabella played and ate and didn't scream at all. Then we went to Jason's Aunt Linda's. And again, she was great! Jason's cousin Koral was there and chased after Annabella and played with her, which gave us a break and Annabella thought was great fun. Then Annabella actually slept well Thursday night even after going to bed late and being all out of her routine. So all sorts of awesome.

Friday I spent the day with Corrie. Which was SO NICE. Spending time with Corrie minus baby makes me feel like I'm slipping into my old skin a little bit. And it's nice to feel like me. Of course I missed my baby like mad, but getting quality girl time is pretty much the awesome.

Then we went to Grandma G's for dinner. Where Annabella ate an entire piece of pumpkin pie, much to Jason's dismay. But it was Grandma G's made from scratch real pumpkin pie! And when Grandma G saw Annabella loved the little tiny sliver of a piece I gave her, she cut a big ole piece for her. I didn't let Annabella eat much of the crust...so there's that at least. But Annabella already understands that there are just some foods that are just sooo good, and that Mommy and Daddy barely let her have them. So when she gets something with sugar she doesn't mess around.

Saturday we spent the morning and early afternoon at my Mom's. We saw Grandpa M and Millie, and my old next door neighbors. I'd told Mom in advance that we did NOT want a big Thanksgiving dinner, that salad sounded about right. Well, we didn't have turkey. There's that I guess. But the amount of food that was served certainly rivaled a Thanksgiving feast. My tummy felt like bursting, but so yummy. And seeing everybody was great. Annabella at this point was starting to get a little bit tired of the nonstop new-ish people though. But she still did pretty great.

We spent Saturday evening with Grandma B and Ray. Annabella got some down time, which was nice. Then after she went to bed I got to see an old friend from high school. (Ashley, if you're reading this, you totally forgot your hat at my Gma's.)

Sunday we say Aunt Katy. Always fun. And we went out to see some property Gma and Ray own. My grandma's grandparents actually originally owned it. Walking on land your great great grandparents walked is quite a feeling. It made me all nostalgic for where I grew up.

But Sunday was a little more somber. I said goodbye to somebody I never really knew, but somebody who'd impacted my life anyway. Because that somebody, in May of 1982, poked a baby girl to keep her awake after a terrible car accident. And that somebody in all likelihood kept that baby girl alive. So standing there, looking over his coffin, telling my baby girl that this man had saved her Mama's life when I was a baby girl...well it certainly made me catch my breath. And made me so very grateful to this man on this Thanksgiving weekend.

Sunday was capped off though with a parade through my hometown which Annabella loved, even if she doesn't quite understand candy yet. And then it was bedtime routine time and then time for driving home through the night and back to work the next morning.

Overall, it was a pretty amazing Thanksgiving.