Being so far from family is by far the hardest thing about living where I do (although a lack of CiCi's Pizza and Sonic and many other fast food chains I have come to crave) come in a close second). In North Carolina, I had two sisters a couple hours away; now they are my nearest relatives, but at a 12 hour distance. Somehow I was able to bribe and beg (and possibly add a slight bit of guilt) both sisters to drive up for Thanksgiving. The good news for them is that after holiday traffic added an extra 3 to 4 hours to both their drives, the balance of guilt capital has decidedly switched back to them.
It was a wonderful, but too quickly over, few days. I enjoyed seeing my niece and nephews. Um, my sisters and their husbands weren't too bad either, but I couldn't hold and love on them nor smile at the things they say and do (at least not to their faces!). I intended to get copies of all the photos everyone took, but forgot so I will share the sparse ones I took.
Thanksgiving itself went wonderfully. My brother-in-law, Ken, spent Wednesday night making a pumpkin cheesecake that I accidentally dropped. Luckily it more imploded than splattered and still tasted wonderful (although it looked a little, well, dropped). That was the worst mishap of the day and for that I can be extra grateful!
So in the last week of preparation, company, and recovery I haven't had time for much else. Now that all I have left is Christmas, I'm sure to have lots of time to hang out online. Actually I do have a story about my husband's Black Friday experience, my Christmas decoration preparation (I wasn't kidding about going slightly crazy), a video of my family dancing, and other sundry things banging around the inside my head.
Once again, not sure I can comment without crying....why does our family have to be so spread out across the entire nation! Glad you guys had fun (I had tons of fun too, but would have loved to be with you guys too)
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving!! Enjoy the payback on that guilt... :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteIt would be a DREAM to have family as near as 12 hrs! Seriously! All of mine are in California and Utah. That is some serious distance. We spend all holidays alone and we've been in Connecticut for 4 years.
You dropped the cheesecake! Nice. :-P
ReplyDeleteWe spent Thanksgiving with just our little family. My parents were going to come up but had other obligations over the weekend that they could not get out of. It is nice to be with extended family but we still had some fun times together.
Well, you know *I* can commiserate on the dropped cheesecake! Substitute turkey for cheesecake and I've been there, done that.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got to spend some wonderful time with family. It would be so hard to have your family scattered to the wind like that! I know we all have to do what we have to do but admire your ability to do it without sisters close by.
I agree with Brenda. Wish we could all get together for a Holiday. Can't wait to see all the pictures.
ReplyDeleteBrenda- I miss you, too.
ReplyDeleteClaudia- I'm sure it will come back to bite me!
Alyson- I hate being so far away. Most of my family lives out west, too. We were lucky last year. My son turned 8 2 days before Christmas and we had both sets of parents here for the holiday.
Jeanette- we've had many years when it was just us. Those have their own specialness to them too!
Cynthia- I actually thought about you when I dropped the cheesecake. Maybe I jinxed myself by reading your turkey post!
Mom- Maybe someday, but only if it is at my house ;)
We had a lot of fun and Ken forgives your for the cheesecake (only because he still got a piece and it tasted yummy!)And our drive home is more fresh in our mind (only 11 and a half hours) then the drive there, so that is okay too! Thanks for having us and for giving us your bed and view!
ReplyDeleteSo what about the burned corn mishap?? JK Everything was amazing!Thanks so much for having us. We missed you guys SO much! I get sad everytime Maddie talks about Matthew and then sadly says "bye-bye".
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