Thanksgiving and its aftermath.

My family has always celebrated Thanksgiving with my Dad's side. As far back as I can remember, it's always been celebrated in East Texas, and in the more recent years, at my parents' home in the piney woods.

However, tradition has officially been broken, and it's all the fault of my niece, Ava Lee. She's only five days old now, but I suspect she'll never live down her birth story of arriving right on Thanksgiving Day 2013 (just as we suspected she would), thereby making an East Texas Thanksgiving rather challenging impossible. I still get a kick out of imagining us all at my parents' house, Mom madly working away in the kitchen, with five casseroles in her oven, two turkeys in roasters, bread for a hundred rolls rising, eight pies and a pound cake resting in the laundry room [and everyone else splayed out on the couch watching football]... and then the call comes from my sister, and Mom's out the door, leaving us to figure out the rest of things on our own. (I especially like to imagine my uncles trying to figure out how to work the oven timer or cut out the rolls.)

But thanks to a little foresight and planning, no such scene occurred this year. Instead, we decided way ahead of time that it would be wiser to host Thanksgiving at a location nearer to "little D," where my sister lives, and that this location would be our house. 

Honestly, P and I are suckers for hosting a good crowd, so we were more than happy to open our home to anyone who would come - with the caveat that Mom would still help with most of the cooking! And (thank the Lord!) she was able to do so - and even stay to eat a little - before it was time to head north to welcome that precious Thanksgiving Day blessing.

Meanwhile, football was watched, games were played, and Greenberg turkey was consumed. 

Late that evening, I joined Mom at the hospital to get a peek at Miss Ava Lee. She had had a little difficulty in the arriving, and they were keeping her "under observation," so we were really fortunate to get a chance to hold her just before we had to head home. I could've held that snuggly, contented little munchkin for hours, but be proud of me: I did not. After all, her own parents needed a chance to get thoroughly sick of holding an infant (yes, Caroline, that day will come) before they go handing her off for extended periods of tme.

On Friday, after P returned from a long, cold game of Brothers' Cup Golf with the men of the family, we drove back up to Denton so that he and the kids could see the baby. I think my kids were honestly a bit freaked out by the new creature (and seeing their Mommy holding her!), but they warmed up to her eventually - and it won't be long before they are threatening her safety with their snuggles.

Then, as if we hadn't done enough that week, on Saturday, we hauled down the boxes of ornaments and trees and Christmas tchotchkes and transformed the house from one holiday to the next. Our tree is up, our stockings are hung, and we even survived a DIY Christmas card photo session (I {heart} my tripod). 

Don't worry - the ones I chose for the cards are (a little) better than this one.

Christmas, here we come!!