I did it...all by myself!

Thanksgiving ended up being a really great day. It was weird to not be getting together with family but in the end...it was a fun day to spend as our own family. When I got up with the kids, I was sitting on the couch with Maddie and she looked up at me and said "Is this a day that you give stuff to kids?" I was a little confused and I asked her what she meant. She said "You know Mom, a day you give us presents?" I asked her where she heard that and she said "My friend Ashley told me that you give presents to kids today because you love them!" I had to explain to her that today was a day that you recognize how lucky you are, how grateful you are for the things that you have and tell people that you love that you are happy to have them. She looked at me and said "That is what my teacher said...so I guess I will wait for another day for presents." Works for me!

I started the morning baking pies so that the oven would be free the rest of the day for turkey, rolls, ham (Josh's personal tradition) etc. I didn't really realize the scheduling that you have to do in order to get everything cooked at a certain time and in a certain order. It was actually kind of fun to put the dinner together all by myself. Dinner turned out and everyone ended up full and there are tons of leftovers in the fridge so I must have done my job! At dinner we went around saying things that we were thankful for. It was so fun to hear what the kids were grateful for. Everything from family members, movies, foods, etc.


After dinner was the part I dreaded...the sink and counters full of dishes. But everyone pitched in and we cleaned up all together. We then sat down to the table and played a million games of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. All in all it was a great day. I am so grateful for everything I have. I have been completely blessed in every way in my life. I am so lucky to have an awesome husband, almost 3 happy healthy kids, a home, and to be completely surrounded by people who care about me. I have the gospel, great friends, and so many things that most days I probably don't deserve. I am so glad we have a holiday that helps us to stop and think a minute about how lucky we really are...and good food to go along with it! It doesn't get better than that!