Let me begin with telling you how much I LOVE Thanksgiving!! I love the simplicity of it as well as all the traditions and the slow pace! I LOVE family and being with family! I love the weather around Thanksgiving time. I love the food we prepare. I love most of all taking the extra time to reflect on and share what you are most thankful for each year. I love how my heart always seems fuller when Thanksgiving time rolls around. Now let me be clear that I am always sure to count my blessings daily and tell those I love how much they mean to me, but somehow I become more sentimental around this time of year. I also find it hard to believe that society rushes right past this occasion and wants to skip right on to Christmas (which I deeply love as well). I feel myself wanting to fight for Thanksgiving to have its time and place! Taking time to remember the 1st Thanksgiving and what it taught is important to me, but the most important is taking time to just BE THANKFUL for everything in your life and to SLOW DOWN!! I love Thanksgiving!!
So, to catch up on the Justiss Family.....
Our Thanksgiving 2009 was spent here at home with Maggie, Granddaddy, Holden and Hunter. I was just tickled that they were able to come down and spend quality time with us! They came down a few days early to spend time with William and Mommy while Philip was at work. There is just something about having my parents with me that makes my heart burst. I love family! Somewhere over the years a tradition started with the Thanksgiving cooking. The more I got into cooking, my mother so generously let me step in and cook along side my daddy. Daddy used to always make the cornbread dressing, but he handed it off to me a few years ago (I think without us even realizing it!) I still love the way my Moma makes the peas and butter beans taste JUST LIKE my grandmother's so I beg her to do those! Daddy makes the sweet potato casserole and I make the dressing (from scratch) and the chicken and dumplins (from scratch) and the scalloped corn and together we make the squash casserole, green-bean casserole and brown rice while Philip does his carrots as well as the turkey and gravy.
Well... this year, I was not my total "healthy" self and my brother picked up on it, so he quickly came in and wanted me to teach him how to do the dressing and the dumplins (which are my favorite). I was a bit shocked at the ease I talked him through the recipe and remember thinking to myself that this was one of the blessings of the year...the interest Hunter was showing in the family recipes! Holden even jumped in and helped with the dumplins b/c they looked like fun rolling out and cutting :)
Right before the blessing each year, our family tradition is to hold hands and form a circle and individually share what we are most thankful for that year. The waterworks always follow. It is touching to hear everyones heart.
I love more than anything that William is being raised in a home with loving parents who both value family as much as we do. Philip's family has their special traditions as well and it is always fun to share in them when we are with them on special holidays. I am so blessed to have a loving family that supports us as parents in raising William!
Back to the story :) We spent one day just hanging out at Pier Park with Maggie and Granddaddy when they first arrived in town. William had a blast! He loved Granddaddy pushing the stroller and had a blast on the merry-go-round with him! It was so sweet watching my Daddy (who's an army man and tough as nails) enjoy the merry-go-round with his grandson! I can't put into words my feelings of watching William with his grandparents (either my parents or Philip's). My heart is always so full of excitement as I watch him interact! What a blessing! I am so thankful for family!!
As a girl who LOVES to shop, another one of my favorite traditions that follows Thanksgiving is the shopping day on Friday!! For as many years as I can remember, Moma and I have got up in the wee early hours to drive to B'ham for the day to shop, shop, shop!! It's a day of shopping with my mother I love! Just us 2! This year, we got up extra early and headed over to Pier Park to shop! We have done the B'ham trip since William was born, but that's okay. We will get back to it eventually. Pier Park was perfect this year! We giggled and had the best time! It's just us girls!! We did cut our day short to get home in time so we could see the iron bowl (or rather keep William entertained so Philip could watch most of the game). I was very sad with the game this year, but there's always next year!!
After my parents left, we had a quiet night at home. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful Thanksgiving! William had a blast with Maggie and Granddaddy, but I could sense his enjoyment of just the time with the 3 of us. He's a family oriented child. He loves to be with Mommy and Daddy and is happy at home. He is great at entertaining himself when he needs alone time. I love to watch him when he does this. It is mesmerizing to watch his little imagination take off when he's independently playing. He'll talk about whatever family was here and ask for them to come back and want to call them to talk, but he'll also quietly drift off into his alone-time and unwind :)
Hope you enjoyed my recap of Thanksgiving! I am trying to catch up on our life! Just stick with me!!
So, to catch up on the Justiss Family.....
Our Thanksgiving 2009 was spent here at home with Maggie, Granddaddy, Holden and Hunter. I was just tickled that they were able to come down and spend quality time with us! They came down a few days early to spend time with William and Mommy while Philip was at work. There is just something about having my parents with me that makes my heart burst. I love family! Somewhere over the years a tradition started with the Thanksgiving cooking. The more I got into cooking, my mother so generously let me step in and cook along side my daddy. Daddy used to always make the cornbread dressing, but he handed it off to me a few years ago (I think without us even realizing it!) I still love the way my Moma makes the peas and butter beans taste JUST LIKE my grandmother's so I beg her to do those! Daddy makes the sweet potato casserole and I make the dressing (from scratch) and the chicken and dumplins (from scratch) and the scalloped corn and together we make the squash casserole, green-bean casserole and brown rice while Philip does his carrots as well as the turkey and gravy.
Well... this year, I was not my total "healthy" self and my brother picked up on it, so he quickly came in and wanted me to teach him how to do the dressing and the dumplins (which are my favorite). I was a bit shocked at the ease I talked him through the recipe and remember thinking to myself that this was one of the blessings of the year...the interest Hunter was showing in the family recipes! Holden even jumped in and helped with the dumplins b/c they looked like fun rolling out and cutting :)
Right before the blessing each year, our family tradition is to hold hands and form a circle and individually share what we are most thankful for that year. The waterworks always follow. It is touching to hear everyones heart.
I love more than anything that William is being raised in a home with loving parents who both value family as much as we do. Philip's family has their special traditions as well and it is always fun to share in them when we are with them on special holidays. I am so blessed to have a loving family that supports us as parents in raising William!
Back to the story :) We spent one day just hanging out at Pier Park with Maggie and Granddaddy when they first arrived in town. William had a blast! He loved Granddaddy pushing the stroller and had a blast on the merry-go-round with him! It was so sweet watching my Daddy (who's an army man and tough as nails) enjoy the merry-go-round with his grandson! I can't put into words my feelings of watching William with his grandparents (either my parents or Philip's). My heart is always so full of excitement as I watch him interact! What a blessing! I am so thankful for family!!
As a girl who LOVES to shop, another one of my favorite traditions that follows Thanksgiving is the shopping day on Friday!! For as many years as I can remember, Moma and I have got up in the wee early hours to drive to B'ham for the day to shop, shop, shop!! It's a day of shopping with my mother I love! Just us 2! This year, we got up extra early and headed over to Pier Park to shop! We have done the B'ham trip since William was born, but that's okay. We will get back to it eventually. Pier Park was perfect this year! We giggled and had the best time! It's just us girls!! We did cut our day short to get home in time so we could see the iron bowl (or rather keep William entertained so Philip could watch most of the game). I was very sad with the game this year, but there's always next year!!
After my parents left, we had a quiet night at home. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful Thanksgiving! William had a blast with Maggie and Granddaddy, but I could sense his enjoyment of just the time with the 3 of us. He's a family oriented child. He loves to be with Mommy and Daddy and is happy at home. He is great at entertaining himself when he needs alone time. I love to watch him when he does this. It is mesmerizing to watch his little imagination take off when he's independently playing. He'll talk about whatever family was here and ask for them to come back and want to call them to talk, but he'll also quietly drift off into his alone-time and unwind :)
Hope you enjoyed my recap of Thanksgiving! I am trying to catch up on our life! Just stick with me!!
1 comment:
Lauren,
We have so much to be thankfull for. I am especially thankfull for you and Philip and the way our grandson is being raised.
Post a Comment