Thankful for so much

What an incredible Thanksgiving. One for the record books. One to be, well, thankful for.

We started with breakfast at a cousins, followed by final dinner preparations leading into a best-in-recent-memory family Thanksgiving dinner. Grandma was there, of course, as well as her daughter (my aunt) and all four of her daughters, not to mention all three of her daughter's grandchildren. Then there was my sister, my children, and I, representing grandma's younger son's portion of the family. Unfortunately there was no representation from grandma's oldest son's family, but we hope to see at least her son (my uncle) on Friday.

Once everyone had gone, Shawna and I spent a couple hours with grandma. We also used the opportunity to get some of grandma's family history recollections on video tape.

We rounded out the day attending what I could only call a Thanksgiving party (lots of people, music, food, alcohol), where we met up with more long-time family friends. Of course we couldn't turn down more turkey as more than a couple hours had passed since our Thanksgiving dinner.

All-in-all it was a very memorable Thanksgiving day for everyone involved. I don't remember the last time my sister and I were together on this holiday (probably when I was a teenager). This was the first Thanksgiving in Arizona for my sister, and it had been years since I spent Thanksgiving here. And short of having all three of her children present (not likely because of my father's work schedule), it will be a difficult Thanksgiving to beat for grandma. Hopefully it won't be quite so long until we're all together like this again.

Most of all we are thankful that grandma is still with us (she's 76), and for each Thanksgiving that she continues to be with us.



(P.S. We're also thankful for the best Shelby picture ever [Shelby with her mouth strapped shut])