Thanksgiving Weekend 2013

Wednesday afternoon around 1:00, we headed south to begin our Thanksgiving celebration with our family.  Matthew (unfortunately) couldn't leave work any earlier than that, and with the late start and the holiday rush, it was around midnight when we finally pulled into my in-laws' driveway.  It was a LONG day and we were exhausted.  

I knew Thursday would feel different, but I was looking forward to it nonetheless.  Without Granddaddy there, our Thanksgiving tradition of lunch in Two Egg just wouldn't quite be the same.  Our loss is still so fresh, as it's been less then two months since we said goodbye.  

Every year before devouring our Thanksgiving feast, Granddaddy had all 20-something of us stand around in a big circle and mention what we were thankful for.  In his honor, we carried on this tradition, though this year it was laced with tears of sorrow instead of smiles and giggles.  Nearly every person said how thankful they were for the closeness of our family and most specifically, for Granddaddy and the legacy he left us.  He was truly the heartbeat of our family and not a second went by that day without him on our minds.  Ironically, as my cousin mentioned during her time of sharing, each and every year Granddaddy told us he was thankful for his good health.  Because truly, until this past May when he was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer, he was by far the healthiest, most active 82 year old man you could ever meet.  Afterall, he was just hiking the Appalachian trail last summer.  Little did we know that last year's Thanksgiving would be the final one with our beloved Granddaddy.  

So much can happen in just a year's time.  Last year things were so different......there was no talk of life-changing surgery, liver transplants or terminal cancer.  We were all living blissfully unaware of the title wave of trials that was about to hit our family HARD.  Last year seems lifetimes ago.

When it came time for Kyndall to say what she was thankful for, I had no idea what to expect.  I just never know what's going to come out of that kid's mouth!  I was pleasantly surprised when she said (completely unprompted) "I'm tank-full for Jesus!"  Maybe I'm doing something right after all.

After our time of sharing (and crying) together, we went about our day as normally as possible and enjoyed wonderful food and great company.  I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures of everyone, but I managed to get a few of the kids and the food----what else really matters besides that anyway??  =)  I just wanted to focus on the moment this year, rather than spending the whole day behind the lens of my camera.  I'm glad I did that.

Aunt Kelly and Kyndall

That's Granddaddy behind her =)

Sweet cousins

More food that you can even imagine.....two entire tables full!  We are blessed indeed!

After lunch my Mom had us all change into our coordinating outfits for my parents' Christmas card pictures.  I can't spoil her surprise by showing you the full family picture, but here are a few that we took afterwards that I really liked.  

Just for fun......

Can you believe she's 4 years younger than me?!  I definitely didn't get the height genes.

And then I said...........

This was the only picture we got.....it didn't end well!  

Later that afternoon, Kyndall pointed to the sky and said "yook Mommy!  A rainbow!"  Sure enough there was a rainbow and none of us had even noticed it yet!  It wasn't just ANY rainbow....it was an upside down rainbow that looked very much like a smile straight from Heaven.  Then, we began looking more closely and realized there were FOUR rainbows, all going in different directions.  None of us had ever seen anything like it before.  We all stood there in awe and we had to wonder.......was it Granddaddy letting us know he was near?  Was he smiling down?  I don't think any of us will soon forget it!  Definitely the highlight of our day!

Friday I did NOT participate in the shopping craziness like many others.  Never have, never will.  There's just something that rubs me wrong about being ever-so-thankful one day and then buying, buying, buying and spending, spending, spending the very next.  Don't even get me started on this year's changes to the store hours.  Is nothing sacred anymore??  Ok, rant over.

Instead, I slept in (until 10:00!) in a warm bed and awoke to the smell of a delicious brunch being made by Matthew's Mom.  We spent the day helping his parents put up their tree and decorating their house for Christmas.  I didn't even change out of my PJ's until 4:00 pm!  It was a relaxing, enjoyable day for sure!  Oh, we also watched our beloved Seminoles beat those lousy Gators by a landslide!  I'm not a huge football enthusiast, but I'll never give up the opportunity to see UF go down against FSU!

My husband, the comedian

First candy cane of the season!

Decorating the yard........

Unfortunately, later that night Kyndall started sneezing and hacking and running a fever.  My child who is NEVER sick, that is!  I can count on one hand the number of colds/fevers she's had over the past 3 years.  But it ALWAYS seems to happen when we're out of town and away from her pediatrician.  Uggh.  Matthew and I had planned to go see the new Hunger Games movie that night, but I hesitated once we realized how awful she was feeling.  But, we haven't had a date night since JUNE, so his parents encouraged us to go ahead and we did.  

We were supposed to have a play date on Saturday morning but we had to cancel to keep from exposing our friends to the crud.  So once again, we slept in and just took it easy.  Kyndall and Nonie made me a beautiful birthday cake for an early celebration later that evening.

That evening, my parents came up to Thomasville and my Mom took Christmas card pictures for us.  Even though Kyndall wasn't feeling well at all, I was very proud of her cooperation!!  I wait ALL YEAR LONG for the day I can pick out my Christmas card pictures and it was just my luck that something so important to me could've easily gone south with a sick and grumpy toddler.  All I can say is a bag of Skittles can work miracles!

I'm not revealing any secrets, so you'll just have to wait until you receive our cards!  But, here's a little teaser...........

After pictures, we went out to dinner to mourn celebrate my upcoming birthday.  I won't see my family on Tuesday, so we had to do things a little early.

After we ate, Kyndall sang Happy Birthday to me

My cake was perfect!  Kyndall and Nonie did such a great job!

BLESSED!!!!

(Please look past my yellow lizard eyes if you can....ugggh....stupid failing liver)

It was a great four days, and we are now back home in Tennessee gearing up for a very busy week!  Kyndall is still really sick so we'll spend tomorrow morning waiting in a germ-filled peds office with a thousand other snotty nosed little ones who came down with the crud over the Thanksgiving holiday.  If you have kids, you know that Mondays are the WORST days to visit the pediatrician, but Mondays following a holiday weekend are a nightmare!  Oh well, gotta get my girl checked out and back to her old self!

Hope all of you had a wonderful, safe, blessed Thanksgiving!  

If you need me for the next few days, I'll be hiding out somewhere addressing my 200 Christmas cards as fast as I can!!!  =)  Y'all know how happy Christmas cards make me---both sending and receiving!  So send away!  And don't forget we have a new address!  I want your beautiful smiling faces to adorn my wall of fame!