Holiday Fun

So, it is day after feasting day. I have to say...I did control myself pretty well ALTHOUGH I did have to ask my mom for some sweat pants at the end of the day because mine were getting pretty tight. LOL. We eat pretty early at my moms. Her rationale for that is that everyone is hungry, we might as well eat and then there is more time to make room for pie. :-) I like her thinking. I got up pretty early and started getting ready. Keira got up around 7:30 and helped me stuff almonds in dates. My cousin's wife had done that a couple of years ago and wrapped them in bacon and brought them as heur de'hourves (sp??) and we fell in love with them. They weren't going to be there this year so I decided to try my hand at them. I was also in charge of the relish plate. We got to my mom's around 12:30 and ate shortly after that. I didn't even go get seconds! Well, at least on food. I did have three (small) pieces of pie through the course of the day. ;-) But it's not my fault - Trav's mom and sister make this AWESOME chocolate cream pie and it totally calls my name.

So, we had tons of food and quite a few people this year. We had my mom (obviouslysince it was her house), my aunt and uncle, Trav's mom and two sisters and then our long time friends Sally and Steve, Tara and Rob and their two boys, and Amber. Her husband had to work - lame! After dinner, Tara put both her boys down in the basement for naps and they fell asleep right away. Kendall went home to take a nap and I put Mia down. Meghan, Nanna, and Keira all took naps in the spare bedroom. Rob watched football in the back room. My mom, aunt, and Sal chatted at the dining room table and Travis horded the adds while listening to his IPod and Tara, Amber, and I drank wine and made fun of him. It was so much fun. Giggling with Tara and Amber totally made me feel like it was old times...their family has had Thanksgiving with our family since before Tara and I were born (we're about a year apart in age). So, needless to say, we have quite a few years worth of memories.

It was weird, though. They haven't celebrated with us for the last four years - just had different things going on so having them there really made me miss my dad. It just felt especially odd that he wasn't there - snapping pictures and re-filling everyone's water and coffee like he was so prompt at doing. (sigh) I guess no matter how much time goes by, there will always be that hole there. It makes me look that much more forward to heaven - where stuff won't suck anymore.

Anyway, everyone but our immediate family left between 4 and 5. I grabbed the adds and started researching my plan of attack for today. :-) Then, we started games. Trav, his sisters, mom, my mom, and I all played Scattegories and a couple rounds of Apples to Apples. We didn't leave my mom's until almost 9! It was so much fun.

This morning I got up around 4:30 and my friend Jenny and my neighbor were at my house at 5am - ready to hit the stores. We stopped and got coffee and went to the 205 Target first. The line wasn't very long and the Target employees were SO nice. They came through the line and got people's Starbucks orders and then came back and served them all. Pretty awesome. We spent probably a couple hours at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond. Then we grabbed a quick breakfast at Burger King and then hit Freddies and Kohls. We managed to get about 5 hours of shopping in and I made a huge dent in my Christmas shopping. I'm pretty wiped out but totally amped to get the house decorated and start making my Christmas cards. I love not having anything we have to do or have anywhere we have to go. This weekend is pretty low key as far as plans go. I love it! We'll see how much I actually get done. :-)