Turkey

What is it about turkey that's supposed to make you sleepy? I'm not even going to try to type that word, but you know what I'm talking about, right? Well, I didn't eat an exhorbitant amount of turkey on Thanksgiving, but I have been sleeping a lot during the last 36 hours! Maybe it has more to do with all the excitement of the week, and less to do with food.

I had a strange moment this week, when I realized that I'm actually an adult--at least in some respects. I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house, and for the first time ever, I had to set up a kids' table! We had eight adults and eight children. It was fantastic! I loved it! Crazy, sometimes, but absolutely wonderful!

My parents and sister Sarah arrived last Sunday night, and the excitement began. We played games, ate food, shopped, laughed, watched movies, went for walks...It is always so much fun to have Grandpa and Grandma and aunts with us. I was also very grateful to have my dad here for a major glitch in the car repair. Short story: after 5 days at the dealership, my van was returned to my posession, still broken. Brake lights and turn signals weren't working. They said it was the fault of whoever installed the tow hitch (which was done earlier this year, and hasn't caused any problems up to this point). Dad worked on it and encouraged us to take it to another dealership nearby the next morning, and guess what--they replaced a blown fuse and had it working in 30 minutes.

My sister Jill and her husband and kids arrived on Wednesday, as well. They had been cruising around the Northwest in a rented motor home. Having them here added more excitement to our Thanksgiving celebration. We got babysitters for the kids and planned an adult temple trip and dinner outing on Wednesday evening. Just as we were going out the door on our way to the temple, we called and found out that the temple was closed for the day. (My plans, and my patience, were being tested this week!) So we ended up just going downtown and having a more leisurely dinner, which was really nice.

Turkey day started out with a 5K. (See my "Appetizer" post.) That was so much fun to plan and carry off! Dad's pies and Mom's rolls made our dinner perfect. We ate early in the day, and spent the afternoon and evening playing games, eating snacks, and even having a Karaoke contest. That provided some good laughs!

Jill's family left that night, making their way slowly back home. The rest of us got a few hours of sleep, and then it was time for Mom, Dad, and Sarah to head to the airport and fly home, too. Getting up to see them off gave me an extra incentive to go to the early bird sales at a few stores. It was fun to have Jen come with me this year. But I waited in longer lines than ever, and didn't really go with any big ticket items on my list, so I was questioning my sanity at about 6:15 am. Do you know what I brought home on Black Friday this year? Mostly, it was maternity clothes! Silly, right? Oh well. It's just part of my tradition. Every year I tell myself I'm not going to participate in that craziness next year, but every new year, I head out shopping in the dark, cold, early morning hours again.

So, maybe waking up at 3:45 am had something to do with how tired I was yesterday. But I believe it was the result of my pure satisfaction with a very exciting, very sweet Thanksgiving week, surrounded by my family.