Thanksgiving 2013

So this year's Thanksgiving was pretty low-key, mostly because of our little 5-day-old Tydon.  We usually would have been going to a big Thanksgiving Day Dinner at my Grandpa Erickson's church with our 100+ relatives on my Dad's side of the family, but I wasn't sure I was ready to bring us all out into the germs of fall & risk getting the kids sick with a newborn in the house.  I WAS slightly tempted to go & show off my new little baby to everyone, but we figured that maybe a quiet day at home with just our little family would be better for us this year.  And I have to say, when I found out the next day that my sister's little girl had come to the party, not realizing yet that she had Chicken Pox, I was extremely grateful that we stayed home!!!

I'm not quite sure if Laron agreed with me that we should have stayed home for Thanksgiving, but he went with it & made us an AMAZING Thanksgiving Feast nonetheless!  He didn't let me make anything at ALL!  He cooked up an amazing Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, scalloped potatoes, stuffing & rolls... He spent ALL morning cooking & it was simply AMAZING!  The only thing our meal was missing was PIES, but we got some leftover pies that afternoon from my Mom, so that ended the day off perfectly!  :)

We started off our dinner with Skyler reminding us that we should go around the table & say something we were thankful for.  What a good kid!  Then we ate to our heart's content, with a brief intermission taken by me to feed the baby... Why are they always hungry at meal-times?!  And then, all too quickly, the meal was over & suddenly it seemed really obvious that we were missing the most important part of the meal... Good conversation with close family & friends.  So after cleaning up the kitchen (which is quite a task after cooking up such a meal!), we headed downstairs & watched some old family-videos together, which was simple, yet fun & bonding.

Although our celebrations were simple this year, I was extremely grateful for our few family members that stopped by to visit during the day on their ways to & from Thanksgiving festivities... Laron's brother Jesse & his family & his sister Diana, stopped by that morning, and MY brother Robert & his wife Molly (who just announced today that they're expecting!) stopped by that afternoon to see our new little guy.  Their visits helped fill my desire to spend the day with FAMILY, while still enjoying the simpleness of the day with mostly just MY family.

This year, I feel the most grateful that our new baby Tydon is with us, that I'm done being pregnant, that labor is behind me & that all went well!  What a feeling of relief & joy all of those accomplishments bring a woman at a time like this!  I'm also extremely grateful for a husband that supports me & goes with my sometimes crazy ideas, mostly just because he loves me.  And I'm grateful for my other 3 kids... They really are such GREAT kids & will be such good brothers & sisters for Tydon to grow up with & learn from.  How blessed I feel right now, this time of year & always!