Thanksgiving 2015

Our years keep getting busier and busier (and we haven't even entered the world of sports or school with our kiddos). 

From Halloween through the end of the year there are so many activities and it all seems to go by at lightening speed. I am desperately trying to savor the moments as they flash by.

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. This meant a total of 15 people under one roof over the course of four days. As expected, it was fun, loud and a little crazy. 

I hope we made memories that will be cherished for years to come and that our kids, especially, will have fond memories of these times together.

My sister and her family arrived on Wednesday afternoon, followed by my parents in time for dinner. My brother arrived after the kids were in bed.

After eating the rest of the leftovers in my fridge (I needed to make room for the big turkey dinner to come), we entertained the kids by making spaceships, UFOs and aliens out of cardboard. This was a big hit with the kids and they continued to create puppet shows for us throughout our visit.

At bedtime I may have won Aunt (and Mommy) of the year by setting up Jack's tent in the playroom for cousin camp out. 

The first time the kids were way too excited and woke up at 3am and had to be separated. The second night, Jack came downstairs because he was thirsty and the final night they made it all night together in the tent. Mission accomplished.

Wednesday night was rough on me because Isaac was sleeping in our room in the pack-n-play instead of the nursery and he was teething to boot. I was up every hour with him – not exactly how I wanted to kick off cooking a big Thanksgiving meal.

After I drank a large cup of coffee, my mom and I started knocking out my Thanksgiving meal plan. I will share more specifically about our menu in a later post. But it was all delicious and the timing of everything went incredibly smoothly. To the point that I felt like I must be missing something! 

It did help that we made some of the pies the night before. Also, no burned pies this year! My aunt and uncle and their kids joined us (from Nashville) in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

During our meal I had printed out questions for a little bit of fun – things like "What is your most embarrassing moment?" and "What is your earliest memory?" 

It was fun to reminisce and share stories (our family is good at sharing stories!).

After dinner we continued to visit while Daniel and my BIL, Robert, started a bonfire. It was a perfect night to enjoy smores – it wasn't too cold and the stars were shining brightly. 

We sang silly songs (Lock family, have you guys ever looked up the lyrics to the song, Donerybeck's Machine – they are disturbing!!!), songs of thanksgiving, and reminisced about our Grandpa Lock who passed away 3 years ago.  It was a good way to end our day. 

Well technically we ended the day with more pie and Pinocle!

Friday we are slept in and then gathered for brunch followed by coffee and games...

more Pinocle and Candy Land for the kiddos. 

After more visiting we all headed for Signal Point to take some family photos. It was such a beautiful day, we were not the only ones out for pictures!

Following pictures my aunt and uncle headed home and the rest of us headed back to the house for pizza before going downtown to see the Annual Lighted Boat Parade at the Chattanooga riverfront. 

I took a carafe of hot water, along with hot chocolate packets and cups and we enjoyed hot chocolate while we watched the boats drive by.

We were seated on a steep hill and the kids had a blast trying to sled down the hill on discarded pieces of cardboard. 

They wore themselves out on the hill while the adults enjoyed the boats. I think everyone's favorite boat was the one decorated after the movie, Frozen.

Saturday morning my brother enlisted our mom and Izzy to help him make delicious Eggs Benedict with hollondaise sauce. 

My little brother has really come into his own with cooking – the eggs were delicious.

Following breakfast, my parents handed out presents to the kids since we will not be together for Christmas. The kids loved all of their gifts, but I think the favorite was the treasure chest they each got. 

My dad had started a rock collection for each of them (from his own rock collection) and they were all enamored with their treasures. I have a feeling the boxes will be filled with rocks found before too long.

After presents, my sister and her crew headed home to Florida. The rest of us enjoyed the quiet and some more visiting. My brother left after supper and my parents left Sunday morning.

We feel so blessed to have spent the holiday with loved ones. Now we gear up for the rest of the holiday season and all that it has to offer! 

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving and were able to spend part of the time with loved ones!