Thanksgiving

Ben enjoyed his first edible Thanksgiving but slept through the first meal at Nana and Grandpa's and was VERY tired through the second with MeeMee and Tante.

All the fresh air at the Pigskin Classic in the morning must have worn him out.  That and the notes he was making in his head for when he gets to play next in several years.  Ryan and his friends have had the Thanksgiving morning tradition of football at Weaver Park for 15 Years!! The crowd and players vary a bit each year as Holiday plans take people in different directions but one thing has never changed....the last player to arrive always wears a pink dress!!  There were no major injuries this year as there have been in the past and the timeouts and breaks were longer than ever before :).  The nearly 70 degree sideline temperatures meant the crowd had as much fun as the players.

Eventually speedy Chad arrived to wear the dress and show-up the rest.

Look at the cute behind on #28! 

After football, we headed to our first meal at Nana and Grandpa's, and then on a couple hours later to eat dinner with MeeMee and Tante. 

Ben, MeeMee and Jelly discussing Christmas cookies

Tante and Ryan making the rue for the gravy

Molly's beautiful centerpiece

Enjoying his first Thanksgiving meal

We were all in bed not long after Ben to prepare for the Black Friday shopping festivities.  Many retailers opened at midnight this year to our dismay.  Molly and I in particular love getting to shop Friday morning as we both spent many years working retail and missing out on the fun.  We all refused, though, to contribute to people getting to spend even less time with their families.  What's next, day after Christmas shopping on Christmas?  Ryan joined the fun this year and MeeMee stayed with Ben.  We arrived at our first destination at 6 am and got the second to the last of what we had come for.  We stopped at home for breakfast as MeeMee made chile relleno casserole.  We made it to two more malls before calling it a day at 230pm and heading home for lunch.  Overall we were very successful and we all got lots checked off our lists.  MeeMee even capped the evening with a new TV purchase that we will all enjoy lots of Christmas movies on in the weeks to come.

Ben had lots of fun at MeeMee's while we shopped

He really contemplated climbing into the dryer

This year included a first for me, too.  As I have cooked the last couple years in Wichita, this is the first Thanksgiving in a long time where I was actually starving by the time the feast was served!!  I started my day with a fabulous and chilly run and was busy busy all morning getting ready and getting to football and back with the boys in tow.  There just wasn't time to snack and pick as things were being prepared and it was wonderful!!  Try as I might for many years, I've always ended up snacking and this year was fantastic to finally sit down hungry:).