We pulled double duty this year and spent Thanksgiving with both sides of the family. I think both Doug and I agree we would rather not do this, as it just makes for a busy day and not as much time to enjoy those you are with. BUT... we made the best of it and thoroughly enjoyed our day.
Our first stop was the Morris gathering at Doug's aunt Mary's. She works her tail off to make this day lovely and always succeeds. I am slated to take over the hosting of the Morris Thanksgiving someday... and I will have some BIG shoes to fill!!
Pa and Mary working on the bird
Cousins playing with hot wheels...Matthew and Evelyn were quite entertained by the older cousins!
Evelyn and cousin Greg... he still calls her "Elavin".. love that boy!
Ben with my kids... hard to believe he will be FIFTEEN in 2 months! Yikes!
Brothers...
Almost the whole gang!
Usually we do a mini birthday celebration for Evelyn and Matthew at Mary's since we usually don't get together again until Christmas. The kids always look forward to it (shocker!)
He LOVE his new Hot Wheels backpack from Grandma and Grandad
A new flashlight and a new book series to try out.. she was thrilled!
Our time with Doug's family was too short, but it was time to move on to my mom's place. It's always full of energy and noise and fun!
Doug and my brother in law Chris
One of the reasons we did BOTH families this year was that my mom's husband Doug's sister was in town. Her and her husband are from Florida and we see them maybe once a year.
They have only been married for a year but they act like they have been married for life. They are so cute and full of personality!! Totally made for each other!
Both Evelyn and Regan love Aunt Louise!
The girlies... Evelyn loves her new hip sunglasses, can you tell? :)
My sis and Tater
Cole and Matthew hanging out. Cole is so kind to his younger cousin and Matthew thinks he is the COOLEST big kid ever!
The Jeubs got Matthew this NASCAR car for his birthday. He loves it so much and I am sure will play with it A LOT!
Chris' mom Joann joined us also. This is the first holiday season without Gerry who passed away earlier this year. It was so nice to spend time with her!
Hangin' in the kitchen making super yummy brussell sprouts!
The hostess with the mostess. She worked tirelessly to make Thanksgiving yummy and festive for everyone. Thanks, mom!
This is what happens when you try to take a snitch of turkey before dinner...HA!
Pomegranate cosmo's make it all better!
The kids at "their" table. Evelyn picked out the table cloth and made the place cards with my mom last week.
Laurie and I were the first ones with food and were trying to wait patiently for everyone else to sit down. Doug and Chris apparently didn't get the memo! :)
Apparently I am enjoying my drink...haha!
Joann, Lo and John, Chris' brother
My handsome hubby!
For some reason (I blame it on the wine!) I started taking "selfies" during the festivities. I really am not a fan of them but we all just got silly about it and I ran with it. These are just a few of the "gems" that came from my time with the camera! :)
All of the above picks were probably funnier to those who were there!
Of course the kids were READY for dessert before the grown ups were even done with dinner.. so of course we obliged them. Four cute and happy mouths filled!
We left mom's with happy and full hearts, thankful for a day of family and looking forward to the rest of the holiday season!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
