The identical and but completely different may very well be the theme for Thanksgiving 2024, however I can say with a full and trustworthy coronary heart that it was a very good one. Per standard, the ladies and I headed all the way down to Georgia early, on Tuesday morning. Being within the new home, we shave a strong 1 hour+ off our previous drive and fewer than three hours later we have been pulling into mother’s drive.
We wall walked Finley, unloaded, then went to see The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever, which was actually healthful and candy. Did I tear up? In fact I did. Afterwards we walked throughout the road and demolished some tableside guac and fajitas earlier than calling it an evening.
Wednesday morning we have been off to Nannie’s home. Whereas all of us felt the plain gap in our hearts by not being welcomed by Nannie’s “nicely hey there” greeting, her residence nonetheless stuffed with the acquainted heat and love as our household trickled in, bringing with them large hugs, rowdy children, and ultimately the scrumptious aromas of pies.
Wednesday prep day is a staple custom and we loved doing in order standard. We adopted it up with an enormous bowl of selfmade beef and vegetable soup my aunt introduced over, a reminiscence stuffed stroll by way of the previous barn the place we performed cops and robbers as children, and a hike all the way down to the creek the place our youngsters discovered a deer cranium and thought it was the best.
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Late afternoon, after we completed organising the desk and style testing one of many pumpkin pies, we headed again to mother’s home for snacks, drinks, and crafts. For 2 years in a row Hailey has picked out a gaggle craft and it’s been a success. This yr she picked out these cute sock snowmen. So cute!
We ate chili, performed Christmas music, laughed arduous, and ended the night with a exhibiting of Residence Alone for the children in a single room and Planes, Trains, and Vehicles for the adults in one other.
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On Thanksgiving morning mother’s home felt like the start scene of Residence Alone and all of us scurried round to prepare and head over to Nannie’s
My aunt and uncle had gotten the turkey going early that morning so it already smelled scrumptious as all of us trickled in. Our entire crew was current by late morning and it was the best time to pay tribute to Nannie. We visited the cemetery and informed her how a lot we beloved her as we unfold a number of of her ashes underneath the beloved pecan tree that she would stroll to every day to assemble pecans, at all times gifting us with luggage of shelled pecans at each go to. It was predicted to be a wet day, however it turned out to be essentially the most lovely of days- cool, clear, and crisp. A blessing.
The rest of the day was joyful, stuffed with full of life dialog, rambunctious children, and naturally, the very best meals of the yr. I’ve heard it argued that Thanksgiving meals is overrated and I promise you nobody with that opinion has been to my household’s Thanksgiving desk as a result of I sit up for this unfold all yr lengthy!
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It’s arduous to beat a rustic Thanksgiving! After consuming mid-afternoon the children and the blokes took off to the sector to play soccer whereas the remainder of us cleaned up the kitchen, watched soccer, and every picked out gadgets of Nannie’s that meant loads to us. It felt bizarre taking a look at her stuff by way of that lens however I’ll say that the bedside chair, the previous cookbook, and the marble sport my Pawpaw made many years in the past positive heat my coronary heart once I see it in my room, bake a pie from its pages, and watch my children attempt to get their marbles again residence as they play the sport with one another.
That night all of us went our separate methods and we made the 2 hour journey again to our new residence to unload and get a very good night time’s sleep. The subsequent day we have been off for spherical two!
We’re lucky that David’s mother and father are solely about 45 minutes away from our new residence so we made the short and straightforward drive and arrived concurrently David’s brother and my nieces and nephew (just one nephew as the opposite is now a university man and wasn’t in a position to make it. He was missed!)
It was one other lovely day and we took benefit of it with a stroll within the brisk air earlier than coming again inside to get pleasure from Grandpa’s chili, a bit little bit of Texas Maintain ‘Em (betting with sweet corn to make it enjoyable), good dialog, and naturally, the Georgia/Georgia Tech rivalry sport. A bit of soccer speak for those who have fun, however WHAT A GAME. Tech seemed dominate for almost all and being surrounded by Tech followers isn’t the simplest watching situation, so I watched it separated from the group, with Hailey who I feel took pity on me- ha. Nicely, 8 (EIGHT) overtimes later, Georgia pulled it out to win 44-42!! It was nicely definitely worth the tremendous late bedtime to silently cheer and have fun the win with Hailey.
Saturday all soccer sins have been forgiven and we had everybody over to point out them the brand new home. David and I’ve been dreaming of attending to host folks in our new residence and have been so excited to activate soccer, hike by way of the woods, and make meals for all. David smoked wings for the primary time on his new smoker and so they turned out SO good. We relaxed till it received darkish and the household determined it was time to go out. All of us slept nicely that night time, drained and pleased from such a enjoyable and household stuffed week.
And that’s a wrap on what stays my favourite week of the yr! I hope your Thanksgiving was a beautiful one, too. And now right here we go- formally diving head first into the Christmas season! Proof of that? Our elf was ready for us once we received residence on Thanksgiving night time. Let the enjoyable start!
