Thanksgiving

The very first time that I didn't spend the entirety of Thanksgiving weekend with my family was the first year I was dating Shawn.  He had asked me if he could spend the holiday with my family and I enthusiastically said yes.  I loved the idea of spending the holidays together but I wasn't really ready to do things differently than I always had.  Shawn was working as a ski instructor in his free time and his ski school always opened on Thanksgiving weekend.  The start of ski season meant that we needed to hop in the car after work on Wednesday night and head to my parents house for just a few quick days.  We had to be back in the Twin Cities by Friday night so that Shawn could be at the ski hill bright and early Saturday morning.  It was very meaningful to have Shawn spend Thanksgiving day with my family but I didn't realize that in my head, "Thanksgiving" involved a long weekend of family time, not just one big and delicious shared meal.   Saying goodbye to my family on Friday afternoon instead of Sunday afternoon was so much harder than I thought it would be. 

Many Thanksgivings have come and gone since that initial one deviated from my norm and through the years I have learned a lot about myself, how to meaningfully gather with others and how to make the most of the time we do have together.  

This year was the first year that we didn't intentionally gather with family and I am pleased to report that despite our original plans to celebrate only with friends, we had some family spontaneously join us anyway! Our initial plan was to invite some single people over for our afternoon meal who we knew didn't have any family nearby and then to spend the evening with some good friends of ours who have adopted us into their extended family.  Our invitations had been extended, our menu was set and our food mostly purchased when I received a text message from Shawn's Aunt Karen and Uncle Terry.  They are professional movers and had a client they were packing up only 45 minutes away from us Monday - Wednesday of Thanksgiving week.  They asked us if they could join us for Thanksgiving day and we were delighted to agree.  Since they are on the road so much moving people, we have missed them every time we've been back in Minnesota and the last time their job took them to our little corner of Texas was when Nicole was 9 months old.

Asleep in Daddy's lap after a full day of visiting with family and friends on Thanksgiving

It was great to reconnect and it felt very special to host Thanksgiving with family present even though we live so far away from everyone.  We were still able to include one of our good friends who wasn't able to travel home for Christmas and together we pulled off a very delicious lunch.  We ate early so that Nicole could participate before nap time which freed up our afternoon to snack and just enjoy one another. 

Whatever you ended up doing, I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful too!
Love,
Erica