Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


We started our Thanksgiving meals last night. Christi and I went over to my grandfather's house to eat with my grandparents Sappoo and Laverne, my dad, stepmom, Blake (brother) and Annie (sister.) Christi's parents and brother, Jason, also came. We enjoyed a good meal and shared a lot of funny stories. Blake and Annie left early to go hang out with friends, so that was a little disappointing since I haven't gotten to see either of them in a long time. Regardless, we still had a great time and it was a good start to the holiday.


Today we are going over to Christi's parents' house to eat Thanksgiving lunch with her Nana, Jason, Sappoo and Laverne. Nana makes the best dressing in the world so I'm very excited about that. Mr. Mike is cooking a turkey that smelled delicious last night when it was in the smoker. I'm looking forward to a good lunch. They always cook great food and being able to spend time with them is always fun.


After eating there, we will be going over to my cousins', Lean and Brian, house. They are supposed to start eating about 30 minutes after we begin eating at the Grizzard's house, but my family is always late. It will probably be around 2, if then. It will be a sad meal since it is the first Thanksgiving without my great-aunt Elsie, who passed away this spring from cancer. She basically ran the show during the holidays. Hopefully everyone will be ok, but I know my family is very close and emotional, so I expect some tears to be shed.


After eating with my family, we might be going out to my stepmom's sisters' house to eat a third Thanksgiving meal of the day. We are not sure if we will be going. Normally we do, but since we ate with my dad last night, we might not be going. We have also been told that everyone who normally comes for this evening meal will be elsewhere today, so more than likely Christi and I will go back home.


The holidays can be a stressful time for us. I have a large family who likes to get together for every holiday (a couple time for Christmas.) Plus, my parents are divorced so that makes two side of the family that you want to go see. Also, we have Christi's family who has done so much for us throughout the years and we definitely want to be with them as well. It makes it tough because you want to see everyone and not hurt anyone's feelings, but at the same time you can only be in one place at the time and we don't want to sit down, eat, then leave. That would be rude and disrespectful to whoever's house where we are eating. So, we try to stagger the meals and make as many dinners as we can. It has been working out pretty good so far since my family is normally late getting to any function, so we can catch the last "half" of it after we eat and relax at Christi's parents. However, whenever we have children, I know things are going to get more difficult because everyone is going to want them there for each meal and carrying children from place to place isn't as easy as carrying 2 people from place to place. We will have to figure that out whenever that time comes. From talking with some other married couples, I know sorting out the holiday details gets difficult. We definitely agree.


I just got done watching the GT marching band on the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. It was cool to see some people I knew in college there. Go GT!


Well, I need to get back into the kitchen and check on our dishes that we are cooking. We are cooking some homemade crock pot mac and cheese that is out of this world good as well as some Coca-Cola green beans that are delicious. Both of those are for lunch. For my family's dinner, we are making some brownie cookies that are called fudge drops. It is our first time making these so hopefully they will turn out great!


Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Stay safe as you are driving to see your loved ones.