Thanksgiving on the Farm

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents' house - the farm. Our original plan was to drive down Thursday morning after Eli's first bottle. With the way he had been this week, we knew we would be on the road by 7am. Well, first thing Thursday morning, Tim & I had a lot to be thankful for. Eli slept from about 8pm to 6:30am with only one waking to be fed. It was the most sleep we had gotten in a while.....whew! So we actually hit the road about 8:30am. Traffic was much heavier than we expected but we had no problems getting to my parents.

All my life, I remember Thanksgiving lunch being either at my Great Grandmother's or, after her passing, at my Grandmother's. Well, this year it was at my Mom's house. I guess she is "Grandma" now! It was nice not having to travel anywhere else once we got there but it felt weird not being at my Grandma's house. My aunts, uncles and cousins were all there and of course, we had lots and lots of food! After lunch, everyone hung out while the men went outside to target practice with their guns (have I mentioned that I grew up in the country and we're rednecks at heart?!). That was fun and somehow, Eli took a nap inside during all of that. During the afternoon, my brother introduced us to Guitar Hero on the Playstation. That was sooooo much fun. I'm not much of a video game person but that game was fun. It took a while to get used to but I finally made it through a song. I think we will have to get it for our house; it would be a blast with a group of people. Last night, Tim & I went on a double date for dinner with my brother Billy & his girlfriend Laura while Grandma & Grandpa kept Eli. Our dinner date was almost in jeopardy as we had trouble finding a restaurant in town open on the holiday - we had no idea, it wouldn't be like that where we live now! Finally found one and had a nice time. The amazing thing was that about 7pm as we were driving around, we passed the Best Buy and a ton of people were CAMPED OUT there. Crazy!!!

Ok, so I must admit that my Mom & I always go out on Black Friday to shop. We're usually not searching for one specific "must have" thing but we enjoy going together and seeing what kind of bargains we can find. Well, Eli got up for his bottle at 2:40 this morning and I just stayed up. Mom & I left at about 3:15am to go to Kohl's in search of treasures. We went to the only 2-story Kohl's I've ever seen. It was a madhouse but we got some good deals. From there we went to the mall and then called it a day, back home around 8am. So we're not all day shoppers - we're early birds and then we like to be home. We hung out for a while and then went to my other Grandmother's house before heading home.

The day and a half we were gone seemed like 3 or 4 because we crammed so much in. BUT it was fun and we're glad we did it. Eli had no trouble going to sleep tonight. I think we all were happy to be home. As much as we love going places, we really love coming home. Now I'm doing laundry & some cleaning in preparation for Tim's parents' arrival tomorrow. Then we get to eat more and have more fun! We'll put up the big Christmas tree and start getting into the holiday spirit.

Hope everyone had as fun of a Thanksgiving as we did. Here are some pictures from our trip.