A day full of thanks

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. The food was delicious and shared with all of my family. A perfect way to spend a holiday that is focused on blessings and gratitude.

The day started off cold and early for Gavin and the boys. Continuing in the tradition of running the Turkey Trot together. It's just never been this cold before. I checked online to see the current temperature as they were leaving the house for their run. 8 degrees. Brrrrrrr. I am not a fan of the cold. They all bundled up, all except for Jack who thought running would keep his legs warm. His first words when he walked in the house from his run, "My legs are swollen." Uncle Scott even pantsed him at the starting line and he was so cold he could barely move to pull his shorts back up.

Our traditional Thanksgiving Day family picture

My parents hosted Thanksgiving dinner at their house. Everyone was able to make it so my mom wanted to try and get a family picture while we were all together. We spent lots of time planning great outdoor locations but once we saw the weather forecast we decided to take an indoor picture before the feast. And I think we finally found a solution for getting small children to look at the camera. Put it on a tripod, set the timer and run to join the group. The adult behind the camera saying, "Look at me. Everyone say cheeeeeeese." Is nothing but a reason for them to look anywhere but the camera. We took about 20 pictures on the timer and all the kids were looking at the camera in all of them.

I am blessed with an amazing family! There's a lot of us (my parents, 5 siblings, 2 sisters-in-law, 2 brothers-in-law, 14 1/2 nieces and nephews, an amazing husband and 6 children) and we all get along and enjoy being together. Not every family can say that.

The night before Thanksgiving all of the cousins got together and made these cute turkey cookies for the table settings. We didn't have icing for the eyes and ended up having to use frosting gel. It made for some interesting eyes on our turkeys.

The feast was so yummy, I might even dare say the best food I can remember from a Thanksgiving dinner.

Griffin and Lilly talking turkey

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day full of family and feasting!

No Black Friday shopping for me. My Christmas shopping can wait another day, a day when people are working and kids are in school. No Black Friday deal is worth having to wake up at 4 am and fight crazy crowds for some door buster prize. Although it's always a guaranteed good laugh and great people watching opportunity. We're off to fight the crowds at the theater. We're going to see the new movie, Tangled.