Put a Smile On

Well, we successfully made it through hosting our first Thanksgiving!

Boy, was it a lot of work, but definitely worth it. It was so wonderful to have all our family here. I love that both sides can come together at the same time and enjoy each other's company. It makes it so easy for everyone.

A few highlights and some of my favorite moments from the weekend:

• Fried turkey is hands down, the best, most moist (there's that icky word again) turkey you will ever eat. Period. 
• Sixty degrees in late November? I'll gladly take it!
• Getting to utilize all my serving ware that I rarely have the chance to
• Jake having lots of play time with friends Tucker and Jerry. Even if Jake is snooty and doesn't really like to play, he was forced to.
• Viewing our first-time outside Christmas lights together
• Family + great conversation + vino = laughter and smiles
• Making homemade pizza and watching football with my brother on Thanksgiving night
• Laughing about messing up one dish: the stuffing. It was very sticky and clumping together in large chunks. Not sure what happened...maybe next time I'll just make it easy and do Stove Top? :)
• Homemade Holiday Gifts, more to come on this!
• Lounging in my PJ's until late morning on Black Friday while all the crazies ransacked the city
• Putting up the Christmas tree and decorations, I love Christmas decor!
• That feeling you get when you take a moment to reflect how blessed you truly are

And blessed I am. Sometimes, it's hard for me to grasp how much God has given me.

I had a touching moment in Wal-Mart yesterday around 7:30 pm. A father of five was checking out in front of me with all his kiddos beside him. I could tell he had come from work and looked tired. His five children were so well-behaved. His kids kept smiling at me, and I would smile back. Then, the father looked up at me and gave me the warmest, most infectious smile that touched my heart.

His smile told me a little story. It said that feeding five children wasn't easy and that the kind of work he did was labor intensive. He was worn out and just wanted to go home. But, the fact that he took a moment out of his stressful day to smile at me....just made me melt.

So today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he or she sees all day.

I didn't take very many pictures of the weekend. Crazy, I know. I'm not happy about it. You won't even see all of our guests, but here's the lineup: Momma B and Daddy B, Momma K, Ron, Lori, Ryan, Eric and Lauren.

 Brunch at Houston's

 

Frying the turkey. This was a little scary!

 Paula Deen's Sweet Potato casserole. Delish!

Brian torturing our poor dog with the turkey scraps in the trash. He just sat there and stared at it.