Let's Just Call This One November

We've been trekking across and around East Tennessee for the past ten days so I'm going to lump all the fun into a single post before December rolls in and Thanksgiving is so last week. I know technically Thanksgiving really was last week but I enjoyed living and not writing about it in real time.   

Anyway, Thanksgiving

Wait, let's back the sleigh up to the weekend before Thanksgiving, which is when we loaded up the car and the dog and the everything and made our way to hubs brother's house in Vol country. Nobody is happier to road trip to visit my brother-in-law and sister-in-law than the little brown dog. My sister-in-law is one of his favorites and she does not spoil him at all. 

There's nothing quite like a game live and in person in Neyland Stadium and that's where we were (along with 100,000 of our closest friends) the Saturday before Thanksgiving. 

The Vols had an away game Veterans Day weekend so they were doing a number of things at this game to honor those who've served. Lee Greenwood was at the game with his son and they sang God Bless The USA while the big flag was unfurled on the field which was such a treat. Winning is fun too.

On Monday morning we drove another three (or is it four?) hours to Daughter1's house. She's an hour behind us which isn't much, but somehow it still messes with your head. 

We settled in and spent four days having all the fun with the sweetest little men we  know. That fun included building giant houses made of waffles...

 Reading stacks and stacks and stacks of books -

Playing lots of Go Fish and no less than seventeen games of Candyland which, if you know you know, ahem-  

There were also  lots  of snuggles-giggles-wiggles-and sloppy kisses given which will need to hold me over til the next time we're together. 

I helped in the kitchen and delivered my grandmother's china to her great-granddaughter (daughter1) and loved Facetiming my mom to show her the table set with her momma's well loved crystal and flowery plates. So so special. 

We left Daughter1's house the day after our feast and drove another three hours over to Daughter2's house so we could see the new digs. So so cute. We had a wonderful time visiting with her in-laws and it was nice to have a second Thanksgiving of sorts with them and also my mother-in-law.

Because my sons-in-law both have jobs that sometimes require them to be 'on call' (aka no travel) we were not able to have everyone in the same place, although we were in the same state. Daughter2 and her hubs moved into their home three days before Thanksgiving but she rallied and invited her in-laws and also hubs mom to spend the holiday with them in their brand new home. 

That they moved into three days before. 

My girls are awesome. 

Raise your hand if you've had a few too many carbs in the last ten days. 

Raise your hand if you're not sorry-ha! 

We left Daughter2's house Sunday morning to take my mother-in-law back home and spend one more night with hubs brother and sister-in-law. We were all pretty pooped so we chilled on the couch, napped, and caught up on everyone's holiday eatings and doings. 

While my girls are geographically the closest they've been to one another in many many years, and to us too, we will not have either of the 'big' holidays this year with both girls in the same house. This is the thing I long for most when holidays roll around, the thing I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for, and the thing I was expecting this year. 

I wait a little longer. 

I make a list of all I'm grateful for, which includes happily married grown up girls who've made loving homes for their growing families...

...for grandchildren who fill our hearts to overflowing-

 

...for the beauty of a late November sky-

A reminder of how deep and wide and high God's love is for His people.