Tag Archives: thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has become loaded with traditions for our family. The first one is going to the Thanksgiving Day Parade here in Charlotte. We started going when Wilson was very young, skipped the year when Miller was born, and have gone the past two years. Unfortunately, the last two parades have been very cold. Last year we brought one blanket with us and this year we brought three blankets…and two nephews. It helps to have one blanket to sit on and one to put over our legs. Here we are freezing and watching the parade…

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Eventually it got too cold and we ended up watching the end of the parade through the glass in a parking deck. Faith wanted to stay until the end so that she could see Santa.

We then went to my parent’s house for the feast. The usual suspects were there. Gabriel and Shepherd came down from Maryland for thanksgiving without Doug and Jacqueline (they were moving into the new house). We have really enjoyed having them here. The kids played together non-stop throughout the day. I literally saw my kids for a total of ten minutes each at my moms house while all the family was there eating. There were fourteen children there in all, so no one lacked a playmate. It was wonderful! Of course, all I did was bring one dish to share and socialize. Eventually I will need to step up my game and do a bit more of the work. Thanks mom!

Here is just one of the three tables that was set up…

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Miller and shepherd have been almost inseparable…

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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love all of the delicious food and being around my extended family. I am so thankful that my mom and dad both have so many brothers and sisters. In all, I have seven aunts and uncles – four of which were there. I feel truly blessed to be a part of all that craziness and love. :)

Thanksgiving is about counting our blessings and giving thanks to God for all that he has provided. I am so blessed beyond belief and I have God to thank for it. I have a healthy family, loving parents, a faithful and loving husband and three beautiful kids. I have enough money to live comfortably and send my children to good schools. We are healthy and alive. Those are the main things in life that I want and need. I don’t need anything else. Other things are just icing on the cake. I thank God everyday for the wonderful gifts that He has given me and I am truly appreciative and grateful.

Happy thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving tradition has been to go to the Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Charlotte and then go straight to my mom’s house for lunch.  This year it was unusually cold, but we went to the parade anyway.  Faith loves to see the “princesses” which are actually beauty queens, Wilson likes the bands, and I love to go and do something that we don’t usually get to do.  We all win!  Well, except Faith, this year.  No beauty queens.  I found out later it is because there was a new sponsor for the parade and they don’t do beauty contests.  Faith was disappointed, but the rest of us had fun.  Luckily we brought a blanket to sit on and then wrap around us.  It was only 40 degrees outside.

After the parade we drove over to my mom’s house.  There are usually about 30 people there, most of which are my dad’s brothers and sisters and their families.  We even had some friends join and they just blended into the madness.  Everyone brings a dish so there is more food than we can all eat.  I should have taken a picture, but I didn’t.  You name, we ate it.

After a few hours I was talked out so I sat on the couch with Tom while Wilson and Miller napped.  It was very relaxing.  We were the last to leave mom’s house.  After the crowds cleared out we hung out and talked to Grandmama Pat for a while (my mom’s mom).  She now lives in town and it is great to see her so often.

After we got home I decided to head over to Old Navy because they were opening at 7:00 and you could enter to win $1 million dollars.  Abigail, my neighbor, went with me.  We were number 300 into the store.  It sounds like a lot of people but it wasn’t too bad, that is, until you wanted to check out!  The line wrapped around the store.  We decided that it wasn’t worth it, set down our stuff and left.  The lesson I learned:  If you go on Thanksgiving, walk straight to what you know that you want to buy, grab it, and head straight to the registers.  Live and learn.  Next year I will try again.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I am so blessed to have such a beautiful, loving and healthy family.  I am supported and loved by so many friends and family.  I am truly blessed and thanksful!

Here we are at the parade.

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Happy Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we went to my mom and dad’s house. This is actually the third year that we have had a huge family Thanksgiving over there. By huge, I mean that the entire Wilson clan was there: Alan, Betty and their kids, the McCullochs, Doug and Jacqueline and their kids, Sandra, Robert and Grandma, my family, Brian’s mom and Mr. Lee, and usually Big Doug (but they didn’t make it this year).

Side note: We didn’t make it last year because Miller was only three days old. Believe it or not, we went for about an hour last year and took food to go. Here is Miller with our food last year.

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This year we decided to go to the Thanksgiving Day Parade here in Charlotte before we went to mom’s house. We met Doug and his family there too. It was a lot of fun! It seemed that almost every group was either a marching band or a car with beauty queens in it (which Faith called “princesses”). It was perfect. We really enjoyed spending some fun, outdoor time together while showing the kids something new.

After the parade we headed to moms house, ate a ton of food and talked a lot.

I decided that since Miller’s first birthday was the day before Thanksgiving we would celebrate it on Thanksgiving during dessert. Why not? We already had a big party’s worth of people!

I made some cupcakes and we all sang Happy Birthday to my sweet Miller. We actually had to sing it twice because Wilson missed the first singing and he had been waiting for it all day. Miller loved the cupcake, and why wouldn’t he? Pointed and begged for more later on. Here he is eating and posing for the camera with family.

 

 

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After eating some of us went into the backyard to play with the kids and get some fresh air. Faith came out dressed up as a bride….I think Tom had a small panic attack at the sight. :)

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Maddie hung up signs all over the house with various sayings on them. The one I remember most was:

“What if we woke up tomorrow with only the things that we thanked God for today?”

I hope that I remember to thank God everyday for my family, friends, health and home. Did you?

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Tom, Steve, Madeline (Steve’s mom), Becca and Miller