Thanksgiving

We went down to visit Daddy's parents this year for Thanksgiving.  Without a child, it's a long 5-6 hour drive.  With a child...it becomes an arduous all-day event...especially when, a little past the regular lunch hour, you spend an hour trying for two different Burger Kings that are listed on google maps before finding a third that is actually 'find-able' AND still in business and you have a child crying about not getting her 'kiche nugges' all during this time...  And yes, it had to be Burger King...because we are NOT doing Taco Bell again for a long time (you can refer back to January if you like), and there aren't many other fast food places that are veggie-friendly.  I do have to say though, I'm thankful that the Munch is as good traveler as she is.  She's pretty content to just watch the scenery and listen to music most of the time.  I do wish she would sleep in the car, though.  We left in the morning, she refused to nap at all during the afternoon, and understandably was exhausted by the time we rolled in to the Grandparents at about her bedtime...but we still hadn't had a real dinner, and had to go out again to get it.  Obviously we all survived both that and the return trip, but would someone hurry up and invent teleporters and make them mainstream and cheap please? ;)

We had a number of surprises over the holiday.  Initially as we made plans, we were expecting it to be just Daddy, me, Munch, and the Grandparents.  Then, about a week before, Daddy's cousin called and said she and her brothers wanted to join.  Grandma had a tiny heart attack as she tried to figure out how plans needed to change to accommodate 3 more people (their house is tiny), but she and I walked through it piece by piece, and life continued.  :)  Then Daddy's older sister was supposed to work on Thanksgiving, but early that week she found herself in the emergency room.  She ended up not leaving the hospital until Thursday morning, and by then she was minus the gall bladder that's been giving her trouble for quite a while.  So she joined us for the feast as well, though obviously she couldn't partake quite as much.  And it all was really, really nice.  Except that Grandma and I, the primary cooks (Daddy and I had made the pies together the night before), didn't sit down or socialize with anyone from about 9 am to 3pm when the dinner finally occurred, and then we had to wash dishes afterward...  But hey, at least we didn't have to cook at all for the entire rest of our time there!  ;)

Because I was busy all that day with cooking, and then the rest of the time with helping Grandma sort and sift through her overwhelmingly fully-stocked-for-any-type-of-craft-you-could-imagine craft room (I managed about a quarter of it during about 2 days, and I'm proud of that!), I neglected the camera, sadly.  I only remembered it on Sunday, when we were at their church.  The Munch has about a half dozen little Christmas dresses that all fit, only one of which I actually paid for, so I didn't waste time, and decked her out in one of them for that day.  Of course Grandma had to get some pictures.  And of course when she did, that's when I remembered too. ;)

That little photo opp...

...And this fascinating sunset we saw as we drove home...

turned out to be the only pictures I took during the entire 5 days that we were surrounded by family.  Ah well.  It was a good time, and I am very grateful for it.

Oh yeah!  And see how much she's grown in a year (!!):