Gobble, Gobble

Market Street at 8:00 am Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving was fantastic! I hope all of our family and friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving, because we did!

I have always been a huge fan of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and a few of the years that we lived in New York, we were fortunate enough to experience it in person. Now that we live in St. Louis, we can also experience a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, but on a much smaller scale. We've been experiencing really warm weather over the past few weeks, but the weather on Thanksgiving Day was predicted to be extremely cold. I offered to get to the parade extra early to secure our spot so that everyone would not have to wait in the cold. I especially didn't want the kids to have to freeze to death waiting for the parade to start. Daryl, Guy and I drove downtown and the boys dropped me and the blankets and chairs off while they went to park and pick up some hot chocolate (time: 8:00 am. Parade start time: 8:45am). As soon as they drove off, I realized that I left my phone in Daryl's car, but I figured that they would be back in about 10-15 minutes, so it would be no big deal. I did however wish that I had my phone with me so that I could update Facebook, call Evie and let her know where to meet us and all that jazz.

Not only was it cold, but it was windy, so the chairs kept blowing over. Eventually, I folded them back up and let them lay on the ground because I got tired of picking them up. The clock in my head continued to tick and I got colder and colder. I longed for my phone and my warm boots. At 8:45 there was no sign of Daryl and Guy and I had no way of letting the rest of the family know where our spot was, so I borrowed the mobile phone from the family next to me. After two tries, I got through to Daryl, who told me they were a block away from me. I asked him to call his mom to let her know our location. I also asked him if he brought my phone - response... "No." When Daryl and Guy found me they handed me what can only be described as chocolate milk, but I'm sure it was bubbling hot 45 minutes ago. Daryl went back to his car for my phone and I grilled Guy about what took them so long. Chit-chatting at the coffee shop - I knew it! Thanks for leaving me out in the cold!

(Time check: 9:10. Can officially not feel my toes.) When the rest of the crew arrived, they brought sausage and biscuits and THANK GOODNESS... HOT CHOCOLATE. The kids were freezing and we waited forever for the parade to reach us, because as it turns out we were at the end of the route. EPIC FAIL. Note to self, must get a spot closer to the starting line next year so that we can get out of there ASAP. We did meet up with Brent and his father in law, Phil and The Starks and Evie's mom Sandy was with them. Sandy is from Florida and must have really been freezing. We saw a little bit of the parade, but it had lost its rhythm by the time it reached us and with the high winds the balloons were riding close to the ground. This was not good for Louie the Lightning Bug who must have gotten trapped at some point on the route because his butt was deflated and the parade attendants were just dragging his butt down the street. We finally just decided we had enough and we packed up our stuff and headed home to prepare dinner.

Brent and Rebecca hosted dinner this year at their new house and her parents were in town. Rebecca had the table decorated so beautifully and we were anxiously awaiting a delicious meal. We were not disappointed. The food was so good and there was plenty of it. We couldn't stop eating because it was so good. We had so much for dessert too, but we ate so much food that we barely touched dessert. I should have worn elastic pants.

Doug, Leah, Charis and Roman came over later for games. The guys played chess and poker and the kids were playing "Go Fish" or "Uno" I think, but the girls just hung around talking and Rebecca let us view a video from Jameson's first birthday. The only downside to the day was an "under the weather" Pappy did not join us for dinner.

It was another great holiday. Can't wait until Christmas!

Evie and Noah

Fred Bird

Poor Louie The Lightning Bug, his butt was dragging down Market Street.

The parade crew trying to stay warm

My gorgeous sister-in-law, Natalie. Don't you love her hat?

Me and Reese trying to stay warm.

Naptime for Pappy & Reese. This is before the Turkey.

Rebecca's beautiful table.

Cousins playing after dinner. I hoped they put all the dominoes back in the box or I will be in for a real treat the next time we try to play.