Monday, December 2, 2013

The Post Thanksgiving Post

Blogging the Monday after Thanksgiving always feels a little overwhelming to me. It should be a piece of cake given the very full weekend, but trying to condense all the words in my head into something coherent is challenging. And maybe not all that interesting, but here goes.

We had a lovely long weekend with both girls home. In our efforts to outsmart Mother Nature we ended up changing Daughter2's flight, so she arrived in NJ late Monday evening. We're so glad we did, because she would not have made her flight on Tuesday. Some sort of traffic snafu that seriously delayed travelers trying to get in and out of the Charlotte airport. A friend texted her and said he'd driven 4 miles in one hour. Ugh.

Daughter2 had not been at home since May. MAY! We've seen her several times down south, but all mothers of grown up girls will tell you that's not quite the same as having them upstairs asleep in their own beds. Or lounging in their pjs at your kitchen table. Or chattering beside you snuggled up on your comfy couch. There's no place like home.

Anyway, hubs worked from home on Tuesday and Daughter2 and I caught up on life. It was a gross day weather wise, but hubs took us girls out for a cozy lunch in town before getting on a 'nother conference call. Daughter2 napped while I set the Thanksgiving table and did other fun things like laundry, dust furniture, and check lists. It was a low key semi- lazy day.

On Wednesday we did some pre-Thanksgiving prep in the form of baking the cornbread for our dressing, making a cheese ball, and cooking the cranberries for Turkey Day. Daughter1 was arriving late afternoon courtesy of Amtrak so we all trekked back to Newark to collect her. The girls had never been in to the Ironbound section of the city so we ventured there for a fabulous meal at one of the well known Spanish restaurants -Fornos of Spain. Nothing like a big meal the night before a big meal, right? Right!

We awoke to positively frigid weather on Thanksgiving day, with snow flurries blowing in the icy cold air. And oh yeah, we'd signed up for the Turkey Trot, aka 5K. I'd registered back on one of those glorious October days where the sky is full of sunshine and the temps hovered around 50, so guess I should have thought that through a little bit more.  Hubs said he'd go alone, but I zipped up my layers and my big girl panties, and braved it too. I thought I might die waiting for the race to begin, but once we got moving it was better. I know that sounds dramatic, but seriously I thought I might keel over from the cold.  People die from cold weather sometimes, don't they?

I didn't, so whoohoo!

We caught the tail end of the Macy's parade on TV, had a big late breakfast, and then spent the next few hours hanging out in the kitchen making the three hundred sides needed to go with our Thanksgiving turkey. My girls enjoy cooking too, so everyone helps. It's one of my favorite things about the day actually, all of us in the kitchen laughing and chopping and being together.


With a break only every now and then to talk to boyfriends many states away via text or facetime.

I remember spending Thanksgiving away from the hubs when we were dating. Five whole complete entire days apart, and we had to use an actual phone on the wall to connect. My heart could hardly take it.

We ate later than normal this year, since the race threw off our usual timetable, but it was all so delicious. Who doesn't love Thanksgiving dinner? There was lots of football, more napping, and pie at 9 PM. Good thing we'd begun the day with a 5K!


I woke up Friday feeling happy. It has been too long since I've had both girls in the house, hubs at home not checking work emails, and a completely blank day on the calendar. We all went to an afternoon showing of Catching Fire and loved it.  Hubs hadn't read the books, so I think the ending surprised him a little, but we're all excited to see Part One of Part Three (Mockingjay) a year from now.  Who else finds that annoying?

Hmmm...there's more, but I think I'll go all Hunger Games on you and make you wait til Thursday for Part 2-Ha!


Hey, somebody's excited.

17 comments:

  1. loved the sound of all of this! NOTHING like your girls in the house I know. 3 days being at my daughters and I was in heaven. We caught catching fire on sat and thoroughly enjoyed it too. I was totally shocked as I have not read the books....and yes, annoying! lol Glad you enjoyed your week-end!

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  2. Glad you made your 5K. Ours was cold to start out but by the end I had to take off my gloves.

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  3. Glad you changed her flight :) Way to go on doing the race! I loved Catching Fire, glad you saw it. The Twilight series did that too with the final being two movies. Your dinner sounds like it was perfect. So glad you had such a nice time with the girls.

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  4. A beautiful family. Glad you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and had a nice time with your girls. I know what that's like, not having them home.

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  5. Thank you for making me smile & laugh. My son is home/travels to college every day..and yet..he did the same thing your girls did..on that phone, Facebook or whatever it was. ANYWAYS..glad you had a good time..Blessings

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  6. Sounds like the perfect weekend!
    Good for you for doing the run! For the record, I'm sure someone somewhere has indeed died of being cold. It's one of my 'intense dislikes.' :)
    Our pup is exhausted... too much action. Ha

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  7. Love your photos, and it does sound like a perfect holiday. So glad your girls could both be home with you!! I want to see Catching Fire, but didn't want to be in the crowd...maybe this coming weekend. I've read the books and love the story!!

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  8. great family picture, Joyce! I know the feeling of having everyone home all snug in their beds. Its a nice feeling.

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  9. Sounds like a wonderful time with the girls and hubby. I'm glad you got to spend time with them. Love the family pic too.
    Wishing you a blessed Advent!

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  10. What a lovely family picture! Yes, I know how great it is to have all your "biddies" at home and snug in their beds. Our daughter will be home on the 26th and we're so, so excited. Of course, she'll have our little cowboy with her.

    Sounds like you all had a great day and a fun time while the girlies were home.

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  11. Great family photo! I didn't know Mockingjay was a 2 parter - boo.

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  12. what a fabulous time ya'll had! we enjoyed ours too!

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  13. I'm so glad you didn't die from the cold - I think it is possible so I am glad you didn't. You were smart to exercise before dinner - I of course decided that cooking is activity and activity is exercise - so that is what I did! Loved Catching Fire also - I have not read the books so I was VERY surprised by the ending - I can't hardly wait for the next one!

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  14. So glad the girls made it in, prayers answered!!!!

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  15. I was on my phone before we left the theater to try & find out when Mockingjay comes out :)

    Glad you didn't die doing the 5K... it can feel like parts of you may die when its cold out though :)

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  16. Sounds like a great Thanksgiving Weekend. I haven't seen Catching Fire yet. Probably at this point I'll wait until my oldest is home in less than 2 weeks! Can I say "I can't wait!!!!!)

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  17. Awww, sounds like a wonderful weekend! And can I just say, a HUGE kudos to you for getting up and doing the 5K! I would have seen the first snow flurry and said "surely this is God telling me to put another log on the fireplace and stay in my flannel pajamas"... :-)

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