Thanksgiving

I know it's a little late for Thanksgiving posts, but I couldn't resist the urge to share my holiday photos. To know me is to know that I love holidays & traditions & celebrating with family. It's even more fun now that I have my Monkster to celebrate with.

One of my most cherished Thanksgiving memories is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my Mom. She would wake me up just in time for me to watch the parade with her in my jammies as the smell of turkey & pie started to fill the air. This is a memory I desperately want to pass on to Collin.

So, we did.

Thanksgiving morning, Greg & I woke up early, made a pit stop at Mc Donald's (Mc Donald's breakfast is also a Thanksgiving tradition...ain't nobody making breakfast on Thanksgiving Day), & plopped Collin in front of the TV with my Mom & I (the guys were very busy with their football game in the other room).

Collin with his Nanny (my Mom) watching the parade. Can I tell you how crazy happy this made me?

When I was little, my brothers & sisters used to spend the day making turkey crafts our of the outlines of our hands & create Indian & Pilgrim hats for everyone in the family to wear during dinner. And they had to wear them or face the wrath of four children who worked intensely hard on their construction paper uniforms. This is also something my Mom encouraged us to do & this year was no different. So what if Collin is still too young for Sharpies & scissors?!?

Collin & I crafting our hearts out. How completely adorable is Indian Collin?!

After our projects were done, we marched over to my Mom's neighbors house donning our Indian headbands to give them one of Collin's turkey creations (they are like another set of grandparents to Collin). Little did we know they had their entire family over form Texas. Whatev. We sported them proudly as everyone oohed & ahhed over how cute my little Indian was.

Shortly after our visit & a surprise fever from Collin, dinner was ready. My Step-Dad had deep fried a turkey & my Mom had baked one, so we had plenty & I mean plenty of turkey to go around.

Turkey & pie. The makings of a very happy Thanksgiving in my belly.

...and then. We gorged. We ate & ate until we were all exploding. In true American fashion. Collin even ate a nice share of our feast.

As we ate & talked & laughed. I found myself wondering what I would tell Collin about Thanksgiving when he was older. As an adult, it's easy to forget; to get caught up in the negativity of life. Bills, cleaning, laundry, work, etc. I looked at Collin & reminded myself. It's more than remembering to be thankful for one day of the year. It's a reminder to be sure to be thankful for every day. For every person & the contributions they make to your life. Whether positive or negative. They make you who you are. Thanksgiving is for you to remember the people, the memories, the true joy & love & laughter in a family. The people who love you.

My family on Thanksgiving. Just before our feasting began.

Cousins, husbands, Grandmas, Grandpas, wives, children. Family.

After dinner, I watched as my family laughed & placed whipped cream on their pie & set aside a plate for my sister (who was patrolling the streets that night; cops don't get Thanksgiving off, even if their sisters are extremely upset about it; the Sheriff doesn't care about sisters, hee hee) & watched as Collin played Weebles with his older cousins, teenage cousins, who enjoy playing with their baby family members & hanging out with their Mom on Thanksgiving. "This, Collin, this is what Thanksgiving is about." I thought as I watched him giggling with his cousins on the floor, bellies full & hearts joyous.