Turkey Day Fun

Today I was in a race with a mob of runners, Mom and I ran the two mile while Dad, James and Danielle ran the 10k. James accidentally took a wrong turn and ran with the two milers, Danielle bailed on her 10k and came back early, and Dad was the only one to run the 10k. Mom and I ran most of our course together, splitting up only at the very end. David, E, Shell and Arch were our cheering section, and also in charge of event photography.

After that fun was over, we came back to our house for Thanksgiving lunch. No turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, just soup. And bread, fruit, cheese, spinach dip (2 kinds!), fresh homemade warm bread... Did I mention the warm apple cider? And hot out of the oven apple pie! Yum!!! We enjoyed the Packer game together, stuffed ourselves silly, and then parted ways. Just in time for a nap.

Snuggling on the couch after lunch

On to Uncle Todd's house! We were running a little late (like an hour late, sorry family!), but something surprised me as we pulled up to Todd's house. The Christmas tree was already on! Usually it comes on at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Were we really that late? Did we really miss the Tree Lighting? He turned it on early this year, it is just as beautiful as ever.

We enjoyed great food as usual, and then the conversation turned to Christmas. After all, the Tree Lighting signals the official beginning of the season, and we had some logistics to work out. Where? When? Who's buying the gifts for who? Time to draw names. As Heidi sat reciting kids' names (there are TEN now and I cannot be trusted to remember them ALL) she also snatched a couple of papers and wrote her name down. Then mine. And then chaos and protests sounded as the adults drew names and we tried to figure out the logistics of how many papers each grown up should have. Two? You have three kids? Then three papers. But Todd took two names, so how many should I get? And of course, the truth finally came out... Heidi? Amy? "It was Heidi's idea!" I tattled, not wanting to take the blame for the trick. "YOU put the names in the cup!" she cried back and we all checked our papers, sorted out who had the right number and who needed another, and again the families parted ways.

Its so simple, just cooking a meal and showing up to the same place to eat it together. But somehow that simple thing is the perfect recipe for cooking up laughter, good conversation and great memories. It was a little hectic with a really early start and not much down-time, but it was worth it. Worth every little hassle, worth crawling out of bed early and roaming around the city in the cold windy weather, worth the effort to cook and clean and everything else that comes with the holidays. So definitely worth it.

I love you all, Happy Thanksgiving!