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Thanksgiving Afternoon

I love Thanksgiving.  On a spiritual level, I love whole idea of a holiday just to be thankful for stuff. 

On an entertainment level, I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with the giant floats.  I don't like to brag, but my former-sister-in-law-once-removed was in the parade one year, so I'm practically famous!

On an even more self-absorbed level, I love the fact that I don't have to cook a huge Thanksgiving Day meal.  Granted, I have always gotten off pretty easily in this regard since my Mom has cooked the vast majority of Thanksgiving meals I've eaten in my life. Thanks Mom! 

More recently, I have our friends Debbie and Dan to thank since they have taken over from my Mom in feeding me (and my family) Thanksgiving dinner.  Although I know cooking Thanksgiving dinner is a herculean task, they somehow make it look effortless.  Here is Debbie looking cool under pressure.  If I had been cooking, this is the point in the day at which I would have begging for help from the the people on the Butterball Hotline.

Or possibly threatening people with the carving knife.  Dan, on the other hand, was cracking jokes.

Of course, this might have helped.

The table was serene and the food was delicious.

I'm also thankful that I didn't sit at the kids table where it was likewise serene until one child made another laugh and spit food all over the place causing much shrieking and hilarity.  Not naming any names here but I think you can see where this is going.

I am thankful that the kids have friends who are practically family to spend Thanksgiving with.

 

 

And, I am thankful to have these beautiful children in my life.

The verdict is still out on the puppy.  ;)

  

A Thanksgiving Morning to Remember

Now that we are a family of 4 (plus various critters) we have had to abandon the practice of traveling for Thanksgiving to visit relatives. It's just too logistically complicated to take such a long trip in such a short period of time. 

But even though it's just us here for Thanksgiving, we do try to maintain those traditions that make the holiday so meaningful. For example, I'm sure we weren't the only one observing the age-old ritual of guinea pig bathing on Thanksgiving morning.

We all know how clean pigs really get you in the holiday spirit:

Then there was the time-honored Thanksgiving puppy wrestling. Here is Julie demonstrating the reverse chinlock. 

Murphy retaliated with the kneeling figure four leglock.  It's such an advanced move, his poor victim doesn't even realize what's hit her yet.  But she will.  She will.

And, of course, we shared quality family time together visiting the storage locker to return the Halloween decorations.  Because if there's one thing to be thankful for this time of the year, it's that the giant, hairy spider and gory, skeleton pirates have been safely packed away for another year.