thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. This year we didn't have to be anywhere until noon on Thursday and that was wonderful - it was so nice to relax in the morning, let Lily get a good nap in and then hit the road to spend time with family. First stop was at Grandma and Grandpa Smedley's for a full fledge homemade Thanksgiving feast. Esther is quite the cook and makes everything from scratch - it was so yummy! Luckily I'm not a huge Thanksgiving food fan so I don't have too much trouble passing on some things and trying to keep my plate to reasonable portions. My favorite is Esther's sweet potatoes - so so good. She makes them with sweet potatoes from her own garden and adds just enough sweetness to them to make them delicious but not too sweet. We spent majority of the afternoon catching up with family we don't see very often and had a really great time before heading back to Cedar Falls for dinner at our place with my family! Thankfully our family agreed not to do the whole Thanksgiving spread since most of us were having it somewhere else so we opted for appetizers and soup for dinner. Which made it easy for me to host! We had a small crowd this year as my sister and brother alternate families for Thanksgiving and Christmas and so they were both out of town at their in-laws this year. For dinner it was my parents, my grandma, my sister and brother in law, Jimmy, Lily and I. My mom brought the soup and rolls and my sister brought dessert and salad, and that left me with making buffalo dip and cutting up some fruit - pretty easy huh?! We enjoyed our meal then spent some time hanging out, making our plans for Black Friday shopping, playing some cards, and then cleaning up before hitting the stores.
I love (almost) everything about this time of year - the except to that would be the weather. I love that it's a time set aside to reflect on the blessings we've been given and spend time with family. I love the memories I have of Thanksgiving and Christmas growing up as a kid, and am excited to create traditions with our own family too. I love having some time off work to be with families, I love decorating the house for Chrismas just before, or after, Thanksgiving, I love shopping for the perfect gift for everyone on your list, and so much more. Unfortunately this is always such a busy time of year that it always passes too quickly but I love every minute of it.
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well!

with gma grover - lily's face in this picture cracks me up!

family pic

with gma & gpa grover