thanksgiving

decorations at the boyfriend's house

YAYYY!! Thanksgiving is here! Thanksgiving is definitely one of my very favorite holidays. The following is the typical Thanksgiving day for my family:

1. My brother, sister, and I wake up, go to the living room, and promptly plop ourselves down in front of the TV to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. My dad has been furiously cooking and baking the kitchen for some time already (and he has the parade on in the kitchen, too!). My brother tries to change the channel and find the best coverage of the parade. My sister and I scold him and tell him to pick a channel.
   
2. My mom wakes up and joins us in the living room. She becomes more talkative as she drinks more coffee.
   
3. My dad starts to urge us all to get ready.
4. We all start begin to prep for the day. My brother's fashion choices have to be edited and ironed. My mom is somehow behind before she begins. My sister and I fight over the bathroom. My dad is somehow still ready before all of the rest of us, while continuing to cook.
5. The dog show comes on TV and distracts everyone. We compare the dogs on TV to our old dog Charlie (RIP), our family dog Sasha, & (she's new to the family this year, but it's bound to happen!) my dog Madison. The dogs are distracted by the fact that we keep saying their names and get hyper. The cats get angry at the dogs' combined energy. My dad somehow manages to keep being productive while the rest of us are frozen and/or playing with the dogs.
   
6. My dad starts corralling us again. My mom is the last one ready. My dad is packing up the car and giving continually giving frantic updates on how late we are going to be this year.
   
7. We leave for Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's house. We are generally running behind.
8. We arrive at my aunt's house. We start socializing with the many relatives who have come for the holiday. (Sidenote: I have a huge family. My mom's parents had 12 kids!)
9. DINNER. Delicious : ) favorite items include the cranberry circle slices from the can, turkey, and mashed potatoes and gravy.
   
10. Card-playing, video game playing, football game-watching, talking, laughing, dessert-eating (strawberry pretzel jello! PIES!), wine-drinking, texting the boyfriend, napping.
    
11. Head home. Maybe go to a movie at the movie theater or watch a movie at home. Feed the dogs turkey leftovers. Feed the cats their cat food turkey dinner.
    
12. Bed! And probably pretty early for my sister & dad, who work at Macy's and will be on staff for Black Friday!

Thanksgiving always reminds me of the things I'm most thankful for in life: an amazing, gigantic family, wonderful pets, traditions, good health, good food, & laughter.

What is your Thanksgiving usually like? I hope it's fantastic!



By the way, today is my best friend Kaylyn's birthday!! She's super smart, fun, funny, caring, creative, gorgeous, and adorable. Happy birthday, love : )