Thanksgiving Take 1

For many, many years my family has been celebrating Thanksgiving on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. My mom started this tradition WAY back when I was still in high school because she was sick of having to share the day. She had three girls who would spend the majority of the day with their boyfriends and then come home to barely eat the food she had slaved over all day. She didn't like it (and now that I do Thanksgiving, I TOTALLY get it). So one year she decided she was going to move Thanksgiving; that way everyone could win. We could still get to spend the day with our boyfriends (and eventually husbands) and she could still have all of the family together for an entire day with no interruptions. She decided to choose the Saturday after Thanksgiving because the first year she did this, my sister had started working and she worked the Friday after. It worked out so well that first year that we've done it ever since. I've probably never thanked my mom for making this initial decision, but I should (so THANKS MOM) because it makes life so much easier for this one holiday. No fighting about which house to spend it at. No traveling from one huge meal to the next. No switching off years, etc, etc. It's awesome!

The cousins..Samantha, Mary and Parker.

Then my parents went and moved to Wisconsin for my Dad's work. They would come back here for Thanksgiving, since it made more sense for 2 of them to travel here than all of us travel to them. My sisters and I decided that we would take turns hosting Thanksgiving (and Christmas). Since there's 3 of us, one person would get a year off every few  years. I'm pretty positive I did that first Thanksgiving after my mom left. I was pregnant with Mary, so that was 9 years ago. Each of my sisters did the next 2 Thanksgivings, but by the next time it was my turn I had decided that I really LOVED hosting Thanksgiving so my sisters very willingly let me take over the holiday.

I did give up one year...2 years ago when my parents moved back to Ohio and my mom wanted to host the holiday again. I didn't give it up easily! I had gotten very used to hosting and came to love it and look forward to it every year. But, I let her have it and we had discussed the option of trading off each year. Then, she hosted it and decided I could have it back! :)

This year we switched the Saturday due to some scheduling conflicts on my end. I continue to be thankful that my family is so flexible! So yesterday was our Thanksgiving.

I think that yesterday has to go down in the history books as one of the best Thanksgivings!

Planning their offensive strategy.

Every year I get stressed out and flustered as I'm making the meal. I yell and even cuss (how dare me) when something (everything it seems) doesn't go as planned. I get frustrated when the turkey finishes 2 HOURS before I thought it would and yell when the cheese sauce boils over in the microwave. Every year something happens to frustrate me. But every year, we all come together. Everyone deals with my neuroses and doesn't even say anything (except maybe get out of her way). We eventually all joke about it after more wine has been had and laugh at how I freak out every year and every year it always turns out beautifully (and yummy)!

Love!

This year we had decided that we were going to start a new tradition of playing some family football in the backyard. The original plan was to play football BEFORE dinner, since after eating all that turkey, no one would feel like playing football. However, since the turkey was done at 1 instead of 3, we were eating around 2ish. I was disappointed not to play football and the boys were playing catch with Robbie while the girls were getting all the sides ready for dinner. This was so he wouldn't freak out about not getting to play football as planned (he IS my son afterall - doesn't like when things don't go as planned)!

However, since we ate so early and it was SO nice outside, we still played football. We had long enough to let our stomachs settle a little and to drink more wine (or beer), which definitely makes for some fun and interesting football. Every single person present at this Thanksgiving played football. The kids only whined a little about not getting the ball enough or not getting a touchdown. But all in all we kept things upbeat and fun.

TOUCHDOWN!!

It was truly an awesome day.

Next up is Thanksgiving with the in-laws. Usually Thanksgiving day happens at my mother in-laws. However, this year, I offered to do Thanksgiving for my mother in law. She's currently fighting lung cancer (that's another long story) and will just be traveling back from Tennessee on Thursday after her treatment. When we were discussing what to do for Thanksgiving this year I had commented that I would be happy to host here. I mean, why not right? What's putting together 2 Thanksgivings in 5 days? She graciously provided the money for it when I explained that paying for 2 Thanksgivings might be a little tough.

So, on Thursday I will host a second round of Thanksgiving. And I'm sure it'll be just as awesome as the first one!