Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday of the year. I love that there is a day dedicated to being thankful for all the blessing in our lives. We get to see family, we eat delicious food, and we don't have to worry about gifts. It's a great day.

This Thanksgiving was wonderful. Lily actually sat in my lap for most of the Macy's Day Parade and watched it with me; Mia was content to walk around and play or nap in her room so we could do this. I have always loved the parade, and I hope it will become a family tradition to watch it together each year. Lily loved seeing the big balloons, the singers, the dancers and the horses. Of course, one of the highlights of the parade is Santa Claus riding in at the end to ring in the Christmas season. It still makes me excited to see this! Lily kept waiting on him to arrive, and then she squealed when she saw him. All four of us were on our bed, and she actually fell over onto the bed, laughing with delight.

You know how Lily freezes up around people she doesn't know, so we're pretty sure a visit with Santa won't go very well this year, but we'll do it anyways. When we saw her excitement over Santa though, we took the opportunity to tell her how she will get to meet him soon, sit on his lap and tell him what gifts she and Mia would like for Christmas. She seemed okay with this, so we asked what she wanted to tell him she would like. This was her response: "A new sweater, a new knife and a new sandwich! All sorts of new things!" Ryan and I just kind of laughed, and then we started thinking "a new knife?! Where did that come from?" There's no telling what runs through her heads sometimes!

After a wonderful morning together, we got our pineapple casserole ready and headed over to Sid and Elaine's house for a big family get-together. It was a beautiful day, and all the kids had a great time playing together outside. Mia had a fantastic time exploring her new surroundings. I was so grateful that Mom and Dad were there to help chase her around! Mia also loved trying all sorts of new foods. I think she ate more than the other three of us! Both girls missed their afternoon nap because we were at the gathering, but they did great. However, about 5:30, they both hit their limit, and we knew it was time to go. Both of them were asleep within a couple of minutes in the car. I got really cute pictures of them sleeping in the car, but I don't have the cable handy to upload the pictures; I'll get those to you soon.

Ryan and I are looking forward to a weekend at Mom and Dad's lake house on Lake Oconee. It's so nice to have some quiet time to watch football, work on scrapbooks, read and relax.

Ryan and I are very thankful for so much in our lives. We are so blessed to know Christ as our Savior, to have each other as a spouse, to have two healthy and precious girls, a large family who we love to be around, lots of friends who we admire, and our health. Of course, we have many material things to be thankful for too, but those are just bonuses. We have been blessed many times over and saying "thank you" just doesn't seem like enough. However, for those of you reading this, please know that we love you, and you are special to us. We are very thankful for you.