My Thanksgiving Holiday!

My Thanksgiving turned out to be much more enjoyable as I figured it to be. Not that I was dreading any of the plans we made, but it was the first year in a while not being at my Papa's and cooking. Thanksgiving was his holiday and I have dreaded having it without him since he passed away. Ironically enough, I felt very close to him that day. We traveled to Louisiana to visit Nathan's parents and grandmother. Although I have been there once before, I noticed some things for the first time which blew me away. Wednesday night after we arrived and ate, I was standing there in kitchen and putting away some food and all of the sudden it hit me what we'd be doing then if he were still alive and that would be cooking his famous meat sauce. We did this for the past three years the night before Thanksgiving. He cooked it for the girls because we loved it so much.

(this is pic of the last time we made it together 3/09)

Of course, I got a little upset and decided to go outside and visit his star that my kids picked out for him the night he passed away and what a beautiful clear sky it was. After coming in, I got ready for bed and pulled the covers down and there was a blue blanket, identical to the one my Papa had that him and fought over for the past two years and he gave me several days before he died and usually I carry that blanket with me and happen to have left it this go round. The next morning, I decided to go outside and spend some time viewing God's beauty and read his word. As I walked out on the back porch, I look around and could see my Papa everywhere. His grandmother had Christmas cactus everywhere and what I call airplane plants.

These are the same things that my Papa loved to grow and had his green house filled with them. Never had I seen a Christmas cactus anywhere else. It blew me away. I continued to look around and sit out there and just saw so many things that were him and felt such a wonderful peace about it. To top it all off, my Papa's favorite desert was a coconut cake and we had one every Christmas and every Thanksgiving, which is not the most common holiday desert and guess what Nathan's mother made.... a coconut cake. Crazy! I called it ironic, but tome there really is nothing ironic about things like that; it is all God's doings. I have to say that the first part of this year was one of the toughest in my life, but the second half, God has really done some amazing things in my life and blessed me with so much. If ever I have doubted (not that I have) that God is constantly working in my life, he has erased any doubt possible. He has been so so good to me! I spent a good bit of that time outside Thanksgiving morning, thanking him for all of those blessings. He put me where I needed to be and I gave him all the glory for it. Not only did he surround me with my Papa, he put these people in my life to share it with and I enjoyed sharing my first Thanksgiving without my Papa with them. Nathan and his family are a blessing just as well. Always remember, God is good and turn loose and let him work in your life. It seems to work out much better. I can testify to that!

We traveled back to MS that evening and got ready for our Thanksgiving dinner with my family. My mother came home from Alabama and my dad came in from Alabama too and we enjoyed our Thanksgiving Friday evening. We spent the night over my brothers, the entire family Thursday night and built a fire and sat around it telling stories on one another and the kids made smores. It was very nice and relaxing. Friday morning, my sister-in-law, my daughter and I hit the "BLACK FRIDAY" sales (which I said that I was not going to do).

We left the house about 2:30 am and headed out, with no sleep basically but coffee in hand. We got to our first store that opened at 3am and by 9:30am we had hit 7 stores and one of those twice. It was not bad at all and we had a great time. I was so excited because I got my 119.00 quilt I had been eyeing for 29.00.

Yep, 29.00!

The lack of sleep was worth every bit of that so now I have the bedspread that I truly wanted and saved 100.00 on it. It was funny because this was my daughter's first time to experience it and probably by 8:30 or so, she was literally dragging bags throughout the mall. I enjoyed her being with me though and she enjoyed it too! By 11:00 that morning, heading home we all starting showing clear signs of deliriousness and were VERY tired. I think we all took about an hour nap at some point throughout the day in between preparing our dinner and it would be safe to say that the three of us all called it an early night that night!

It was a great Thanksgiving and actually got me a bit more excited about the holiday season. I look forward to those memories being made and spending more time with the people I love.