a season of thanks

So once in every year we throng

Upon a day apart,

To praise the Lord with feast and song

In thankfulness of heart.

~Arthur Guiterman, The First Thanksgiving

Well folks, it's been a busy week (as usual) full of food, fun, and well, more food.  However, I guess that's kind of the point of Turkey Day now isn't it!  I know I certainly enjoyed all of the yummy Thanksgiving food X2 because now that I'm Mrs. Weir I get to share Thanksgiving with two families instead of one!

I will return to the Thanksgiving topic a little later on, but I want to catch up what happened in the days before.

As I said before my Mom and I went on a little road trip to Cincinnati so that we could bring my brother home for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Not only that, but I FINALLY got to see Xavier University(including this blue guy up here who happens to be the school mascot), in all its Christmas finery I might add, and meet his adorable girlfriend Veronica.

The drive was a blast.  Not only did we stock up on junk food at pit stops, we had 6 hours to talk about anything and everything we wished with no interruptions.  I love my momma and I felt spoiled spending so much special time with her.  We stayed at a wonderful hotel too and had an extremely yummy breakfast at the hotel breakfast restaurant.  

We spent a night and a day in Cincinnati with Tad and I must say I had a wonderful time.  Not only did we visit one of my favorite restaurants for dinner, Buca Di Beppo, I got to see Tad's dorm room and spend not one, but two meals with him and his girlfriend Veronica.

They are a cute couple, he happens to be 13 inches taller than she is, but there's no surprise there considering he is a towering 6'5''.

Notice my brother is stubborn and refuses to smile despite persuading by both myself and Veronica.  Still, a very sweet picture.

I think my husband was slightly jealous when I, after days of complaining about how uncomfortable our bed was, drifted off to sleep while on the phone with him at the hotel.

However, he remedied that problem as soon as I returned home and fixed our bed frame, with a little help from my persistent complaining.  Oops, I guess I can't help myself when it comes to being comfortable at bedtime.  Thanks sweetheart;)

I was very excited to get back home just in time to get prepared for Thanksgiving, which included the contribution of my very first dish to The Weir family Thanksgiving.  Aaron  and his family are all about the traditional Thanksgiving dishes so I made green bean casserole.

That was a mean casserole.  I added a little more fried onions than the recipe calls for, but they are the best part so how could I resist.

The morning started off, as it always does, with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Cassie and I set our alarms and bundle up on the couch to watch the parade.  I was even lucky enough to see one of my favorite artists perform her new Christmas single in the parade!

We spent Thanksgiving morning at Aaron sister Becky's house and shared a lovely, and delicious, Thanksgiving lunch together.  It was so nice to catch up with Aaron's sisters and share some special time with our nieces.  Baby Charlotte spent some quality time with my hubby, which was very cute to see.

This beautiful bird was brined and basted to perfection at our next destination.

After a relaxed morning at Becky's house, we said our thanks and traveled to our second Thanksgiving with my family.  My Aunt and Uncle hosted the meal, along with some help from Aunt Tracy and Uncle Stuart.  The atmosphere was cozy, the meal was stunning, and the company was perfection.  We had a wonderful time sharing our first Thanksgiving together and both enjoyed some of our favorite things; socializing and football, wonder if you can guess which belongs to whom.

I was thankful on Thanksgiving, as I am every day, for my wonderful family, especially my husband.  God truly blessed me when he chose Aaron to be my soulmate and led me on a path to find him.  I am so thankful to have a husband who supports me, cares for me, loves me unconditionally, and showers me with affection every day.  God blessed me with a perfect husband and a beautiful life.  I am so thankful for all the gifts I God blessed me with.

After all the thanks was given and the food was eaten it was back to keeping up the Christmas cheer.  Cassie and I organized a party with the the girls in her class to box up lots of cookies everyone made for a friend of our cousin Kimmy who is serving in Afghanistan.  We went caroling around our neighborhood with all the girls and boxed up two huge boxes full of special treats for the troops.  We were truly celebrating God's gift of our brave servicemen and servicewomen.

Penny couldn't help but get involved, especially when there was hot chocolate and popcorn around.  She was a big help when Cassie and I made the cookies too.

By lying there and begging for crumbs when we took the cookies out of the oven.

I was so proud of Cassie and the girls in her class for their Christmas cheer and spirit of giving.  They worked hard making and packaging the cookies and their caroling was sensational. They got lots of compliments from the neighbors too!

I got all my Christmas shopping and wrapping finished, which was a relief, and my hubby got his St. Nicholas Day present early; his official family stocking, complete with his name.

So now that the stockings are hung by the chimney with care we are all ready for the 25 days of Christmas!  Goodbye November, Hello December!  It truly is a magical month...