THANKSGIVING 2015

It was this little turkey's first Thanksgiving!  And boy was she excited!  All dressed up in the plaid jumper my mom sewed her and the turkey headband I quickly made before everyone arrived, she spent the day wide awake and loving all the commotion in the house.

It was our first time hosting Thanksgiving, which made it even more special.    Wade is great in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, my culinary skills are quite lacking.  I can follow a recipe on a box, but nothing ever seems to turn out and I have zero desire to get any better.  I do love food, though!  So luckily for me, my mom and Wade came to the rescue.

Wade made a rotisserie turkey on the grill, which turned out fantastic.  I peeled some potatoes and that was about it.  Taking care of the baby was a good excuse to bow out of the kitchen gracefully.

It was my mom who really came to the rescue.  She brought over pretty much everything.  All the sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, etc.  All those favorites that taste like Thanksgiving.  Only doing a small part of the meal, I'm embarrassed to say that I never was much help to her in the past.  I had a vague notion of what went into the prepping of such a big meal, but really no clue how hard it really was.  My fondest memories of Thanksgiving from when I was a kid were waking up to the smell of turkey in the oven and walking downstairs to find my mom telling my dad he was putting too much brown sugar in the sweet potatoes (but Dad always made them just right--extra sweet:).  Then magically the meal would appear, and we would all stuff our faces and then retire to watch TV.  As I've gotten older, I'm realizing more than ever how my mom is the backbone of the family.  She always works so hard to make things special and nice for us without asking anything in return.  Thank you, Mom, for all your hard work!  I promise I'll help you more:)

This year my brother and sister were with their in-laws, but we'll get to see them for Christmas.  I'm sure Everly enjoyed getting all this special attention as the only kid, but she'll also love watching her cousins run around the house.

During dinner we went around the table and said what we were thankful for.  It was no surprise that Wade and I said Everly.  I still feel like pinching myself when I look at her to make sure she's really here, and I'm not just dreaming.  Even when she screams and gives us that big pouty face, I'm so grateful for her.  And grateful for my mom who thought she was getting a break this year coming to my house, but ended up still working so hard.  I owe her an ice cream date:)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!