I'm not much on recapping in the bloggosphere. I usually
love reading other people's journaling, but I typically use this space to crock-pot on things that God has been teaching me. It's like a public forum for my private catharsis. My hubby maintains that it is a weird form of personal discovery, and he's probably right.
But on days such as today, when the gray sky presses at my windows, and the washing machine tumbles around in the background, I just want to relive the rest and joy that was my past week.
Thanksgiving was a whirlwind of food, family, and sunshine. I'm so thankful that I have literally too many gifts to write down, and my daily life is filled with continual discovery of God's goodness.
So, today I give you, a Thanksgiving in pictures... for they are worth thousands of words. I owe most of these pics to my talented sister, Erika Aileen, whose fantastic artistry can be seen
if you follow this link.
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| A houseful of people!? This is my heaven on earth... |
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| These two drove all the way out, and then juggled tons of seminary life responsibilities so that they could be at Thanksgiving. I'm fairly confident that my whining played a large role in their planning, and while I could be ashamed, I'm merely elated that they were a part of our celebrations. |
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| Grant has fantastic grandparents... and he enjoyed milking the attention for 5 days of expert cuddles. |
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| Oma is the baby expert. And Grant knows it. |
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| Uncle Teej time. |
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| Kamikaze! Poor Oma didn't even see it coming... |
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| I love my daddy. |
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| So I married a man who is so much like him. |
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| Attention monger. |
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| Caramel Pecan cinnamon rolls. I love having people to cook for... I can bake all the yumminess that I can't justify demolishing by myself. |
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| Someday, she'll ask why we let her do this in every picture. As if it was our fault. |
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| Chopping veggies is very relaxing. |
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| I love that my job now is almost totally June Cleaver-ing. |
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| This year I prepped the turkey by brining it... I'm never making turkey any other way. |
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| I love my "Thankfulness Tree" and the centerpiece that cost me less than five dollars. |
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| Everyone wrote things they were thankful for on the leaves of the tree... Each year we'll add more leaves. This year I was thankful "for 2 babies when last year I had zero!" Can't believe I'm a mommy x 2. |
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| My son. Eating goldfish crackers on Thanksgiving. Only a baby would be happy with this on Thanksgiving. |
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| We dressed up like characters from the first Thanksgiving. Teej was "Miles Standish" |
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| Scott was William Bradford. Of course. I was pregnant with "Peregrin White"... the first Pilgrim baby born in the New World. Of course. |
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| Apple Pie. Classic Staple. |
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| Cranberry Tart. Not so classic, and probably not returning. |
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| Dad did the turkey and ham carving honors. |
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| Table full of thankful. |
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| Grant cleaned up the ham and turkey. |
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| All the men did the dishes... This is a tradition I can get on board with! |
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| Sisters, sisters! So glad we're finally friends... after years of angsty adolescence, we're finally buddies! |
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| One fish, two fish... Julie's reading to Grantish. |
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| My son. Can't believe it. |
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| The thumb has become a recent staple... |
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| Auntie ErBear is a good cuddler! |
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| We paint pottery every year... this was year #6. We painted pottery in New Jersey near Mama's old Kindergarten! |
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| I love my mama's pottery-painting face. |
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| Erika. Done first. Super cute. Typical. |
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| These are two pretty girls. I'm so thankful that my mama loves being a mama and decided to love on Julie after all her older kiddies were grown. |
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| While we painted pottery, napped, and made soup, all the men worked on our laundry room and did a massive amount of gutting and remodeling. Merry Christmas to me! |
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| Thanks, men! |
Thankfulness is overflowing. 2013 was a good year.
