We celebrated the girl's first Thanksgiving this past week. Andre had to work the night before and so the girls and I spent the morning together. They woke up about 6:30am and we bundled up, started a fire in the fireplace (even though it was 75 degrees outside), made a soft play mat on the floor and waited for the parade to start on television. The girls crawled around while I finished baking and then we just played and watched the parade.
It was a simple, and awesome way to start the day. As cheesy and trite as it may sound, I teared up a few times thinking about how thankful I am to have our girls and Andre this year. They must have felt it too because they both wanted to sit in my lap and began to cry anytime I attempted to set them down. Its no easy task holding two big babies. You must hold them extra tight with lots of kisses.
I occasionally thought about how I should be "doing something," cooking or cleaning or...something to prepare for the holiday. But then I remembered how ridiculous that is, how all I wanted to do was hold my babies and enjoy our time together, how it was our first Thanksgiving together and all I really needed to do was be with them. So that's what a did. And it was great.We picked up Andre from work that afternoon and headed up to my mom's for Thanksgiving dinner--which starts so early it should really be called lunch, or at least linner. When we arrived my uncle was moving an exercise bike to the neighbor's house. My ever practical mother never misses an opportunity for free labor. "Welcome to Thanksgiving," I said to Andre who had come prepared with some sort of hole digging tool.
Two sets of aunts and uncles were there along with a couple of cousins, my grandmother, my sister and her kids, and my uncles super smart standard poodle...it was great. The girls were passed around so much they never touched the floor. Even my uncle's dog liked them.
The next day we woke up early and headed up to have Thanksgiving again with Andre's family. You'd think we were already fat enough and couldn't possibly eat anything else, but you'd be wrong. We managed to find the space to eat more delicious food while enjoying our time with Andre's family (I'd list them all, but there were quite a few people there and as the night went on, people kept coming). We always have the best time. I love it and all the people there. His sister and her kids were there too. The kids are growing up so fast, its kind of surreal. I remember my first Thanksgiving with them and how her little boy was just starting to walk. It was good to see them. She also gave the girls the adorable dresses they are wearing above.
The girls had such a good time they didn't want to miss a thing by doing silly things like sleeping. They eventually lost the battle and fell asleep in our arms, thus ending their 2nd First Thanksgiving. We stayed up late singing Elton John and old blues songs while Mitch played the piano. Well, I had the decency (and the sobriety) to mostly listen along this year. All in all it was a very good day.
