I LOVE my FAMILY. Or At Least the Ones at Dinner Last Night!

So Thanksgiving was yesterday and while it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, it turned out to be one of the best Thanksgivings I've had in a very long time. Becca didn't make it more than a few minutes before she decided she didn't want to partake of the Holiday meal, so she called her father and he picked her up. I was devastated but had to stick with my guts that if she didn't want to be around, I wasn't going to make her stay and both of us end up miserable over the whole deal. I hope she had a better day at her fathers. I was hurt she didn't want to stay with us, but like I already said, I couldn't bring myself to want to bribe her to stay when she didn't really want to be there. I let that go, and tried to enjoy the rest of my day.

The day turned out beautiful with a table full of remarkable food and we all were so stuffed. Judi, Jodie, Mike and I ate everything we possibly could without feeling a pain from it. I especially loved the new yams Jodie had made this year with Bacon, and lots of butter. The results were more phenomenal than I could have ever dreamed. It was fabulous! The Dixie salad danced on my taste buds just as they had when I was a little girl, eating the Dixie salad Grandma Lola had prepared. The butter tips were just as scrumptious as they always have been. The only thing missing were Mikes traditional rutabagas. Everyone was somewhat disappointed he hadn't made his favorite dish for us all. Maybe next year though.

Ciera, uncle Harv's daughter, popped up after dinner and visited with us for a couple hours probably. We discussed how ridiculous it is, all the politics in our family, and how sad that we have all fallen so far apart from one another and we also giggled about how rude and obnoxious some of our family members are. We reminisced about our loved ones that had passed away and talked about Thanksgivings when Jodie was little, and what it was like when Nanny and Papa were around. We talked a lot about Grandma Lola, and Uncle Harv. We debated on what family member we were most like, and the ones that are quite opposite from us. It was a lovely visit, where we all could be ourselves, talk about how we REALLY felt about things, and just could be ourselves without any kind of judgment or critique from the ones sitting around the table. Good Juju. Accepting our family members for what they are, loving them regardless of their choices, bad or good... and just loving people for who they are.Everyone at that table tonight was an open book, and that was comforting.

After all of our bellies were incredibly full, we took our attention to the Christmas decorations that needed to be hauled in from the garage and put up all around the house. Aunt Jodie is somewhat a Christmas-a-holic. Anything she finds suitable for holiday decor gets purchased and later brought out the night of Thanksgiving. Box, after box, they piled into the backroom of her house as we all dug in and went to our individual tasks. It was my job to do the village above her china cabinet. I also helped with some minor details in other places, but the village was all mine. I'm claiming it. Mike didn't do much decorating, besides hanging some garland up, but that wasn't really one of his jobs. His job was to haul boxes back and forth from the house to the outdoor garage. He completed his task with the utmost swiftness, once pushed a little by Jodie or myself.

After a little decorating, Michael and I drove to Donald's house, so we could visit him for a moment and wish him a Happy Thanksgiving. They hadn't even finished the turkey by the time we showed up. It still had almost another 2 hours of cooking to be done, so they were all probably starving and Michael and I were still bloated out and feeling quite "round" after we had just ate the feast of all feasts.

We returned to Jodie's after about 2 hours and couldn't wait to get started on the pies! Jodie bought 6 Crowshaw's Pies for dessert. Mind you, there was ONLY 4 of us at dinner so that means everyone got a pie and a half to eat! I had a very large slice of pumpkin with their famous whipped topping, Mike settled for a piece of Apple, Pumpkin and Very Berry. He also decided he could "handle" bringing home an apple pie that was left over. I'm sure it wont last 'til tomorrow.

We talked about activities in our lives that are coming up soon, and what Judi and Jodie would be doing with the rest of their weekend together. Judi was due to leave St. George on Sunday so her days here are limited before she heads home. We decided we would have a dessert making night with candies, cookies and other treats on Sat. night so that will be yummy. I mean, FUN.

Overall, it was a blessing to be invited to Jodie's for Thanksgiving this year. We really enjoyed ourselves.