The identical and but completely different might 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 regular, the ladies and I headed all the way down to Georgia early, on Tuesday morning. Being within the new home, we shave a stable 1 hour+ off our previous drive and fewer than three hours later we had been pulling into mother’s drive.
Thanksgiving 2024
We wall walked Finley, unloaded, then went to see The Finest Christmas Pageant Ever, which was actually healthful and candy. Did I tear up? After all I did. Afterwards we walked throughout the road and demolished some tableside guac and fajitas earlier than calling it an evening.
Wednesday morning we had been off to Nannie’s home. Whereas all of us felt the apparent gap in our hearts by not being welcomed by Nannie’s “nicely hey there” greeting, her residence nonetheless crammed with the acquainted heat and love as our household trickled in, bringing with them massive hugs, rowdy children, and ultimately the scrumptious aromas of pies.
Wednesday prep day is a staple custom and we loved doing in order regular. We adopted it up with an enormous bowl of do-it-yourself beef and vegetable soup my aunt introduced over, a reminiscence stuffed stroll by means 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.
Crafts and Film Time
Late afternoon, after we completed establishing the desk and taste-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 successful. 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 displaying of House Alone for the children in a single room and Planes, Trains, and Cars for the adults in one other.
Thanksgiving Morning
On Thanksgiving morning mother’s home felt like the start scene of House 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 complete crew was current by late morning and it was the appropriate time to pay tribute to Nannie. We visited the cemetery and informed her how a lot we cherished her as we unfold just a few of her ashes below the beloved pecan tree that she would stroll to each day to collect pecans, at all times gifting us with baggage of shelled pecans at each go to. It was predicted to be a wet day, nevertheless it turned out to be probably the most stunning of days- cool, clear, and crisp. A blessing.
The rest of the day was joyful, crammed with energetic dialog, rambunctious children, and naturally, the perfect 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 look ahead to this unfold all yr lengthy!
It’s arduous to beat a rustic Thanksgiving!
After consuming mid-afternoon the children and the blokes took off to the sphere to play soccer whereas the remainder of us cleaned up the kitchen, watched soccer, and every picked out objects of Nannie’s that meant so much to us. It felt bizarre taking a look at her stuff by means 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 certain heat my coronary heart after 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 evening’s sleep. The following day we had 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 similtaneously David’s brother and my nieces and nephew (just one nephew as the opposite is now a university man and wasn’t capable of make it. He was missed!)
It was one other stunning day and we took benefit of it with a stroll within the brisk air earlier than coming again inside to take pleasure in Grandpa’s chili, a little 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 people who rejoice, however WHAT A GAME. Tech appeared dominate for almost all and being surrounded by Tech followers isn’t the best watching situation, so I watched it separated from the group, with Hailey who I feel took pity on me- ha. Effectively, 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 rejoice the win with Hailey.
Saturday Morning
All soccer sins had been forgiven and we had everybody over to indicate them the brand new home. David and I’ve been dreaming of attending to host individuals in our new residence and had been so excited to activate soccer, hike by means 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 obtained darkish and the household determined it was time to go out. All of us slept nicely that evening, drained and comfortable 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 after we obtained residence on Thanksgiving evening. Let the enjoyable start!
