Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, Thanksgiving has been very different at our house. Typically, we are with family, but this year we made the decision to stay at home since Hallie's medical expenses are so high and we have to travel a lot to get to her doctors. I wasn't really looking forward to it, to be honest. We were going to have dinner with some good friends, but they had a last minute change of plans, so it was just us. Derrick and I debated all the week before-- do we cook, or go out to eat? Honestly, by the time I bought everything, we could have gone out to eat, but then I wouldn't have had leftovers. I am still making meals with turkey!

I made Derrick promise that he would at least get out of his pj's and pretend that it was a nice holiday. He actually took Carson to play football that morning with our ward at church. Carson was the only kid that insisted on playing and even took his own flags. I guess the rest of the kids were playing soccer, but he wanted nothing to do with that. I wish I could say that I got to sleep in, but unfortunately, Tucker came and crawled in bed with me soon after the other boys left and Hallie started screaming that she had pooped all over her bed and could I come and clean it up?

That just started a not so fabulous morning. I had made a layered jello salad, starting the day before and for some reason, one of the layers didn't set up, so the whole thing turned to slosh. Derrick came back from football and in years past, he has always brought a newspaper home with him, so I didn't think to remind him. I guess I should have because he didn't grab one. We weren't planning on going shopping, but it is a tradition on Thanksgiving to pore over the ads. So, out Derrick went again. It was about 10:30 this time and he had to go to 6 stores before he found one. Plus, he forgot his cell phone, so he couldn't even call me to tell me how hard it was to find one, so by the time he got home, he was so cross!

I had rolls going, turkey in the oven, green bean casserole ready to cook, so we took a break to read the ads. There wasn't anything that we couldn't live without, although Radio Shack had a cell phone for $9.99 and I have been needing a new one since I couldn't hear people talk unless they were on speaker phone. I had been trying to hold out for one with internet capabilities, since when I am at the doctor and hospital, I am pretty isolated from the world. Derrick put aside his orneriness and went out to get it for me. I think he likes it better than I do-- a phone is a phone, right?

Anyways, I think that was the turning point of the day for us. We finished getting dinner ready, and sat down to eat. Carson was sure he didn't like turkey, Hallie was sure she didn't like potatoes, Tucker was sure we were trying to starve him, but Derrick and I really enjoyed dinner. Although, poor Carson asked me halfway through where the stuffing was. Oops! It was still in the box. Thanksgiving is a lot of work when it is just your own little family and your kids are all pretty young to be much help!

After dinner, we all took naps, which was fabulous. Afterwards, we played games and watched a few movies I had gotten at Red Box. In all, it was very different than what we were used to. It was kind of a hard holiday since last year my grandpa got spinal meningitis on Thanksgiving and the kids and I ended up racing back to Utah to see him before he passed away. He ended up hanging on for several months, but I think that in a way, our quiet Thanksgiving gave Derrick and I the opportunity to really reflect on our blessings, to see the Lord's hand in our lives. I look back at the blessing my grandfather was in my life and that is what we chose to focus on. If we ever have to stay here for Thanksgiving again, I might beg, cry, or plead, or all 3 to get family to come out to us, but for this year we enjoyed the peace and came out of it more prepared to face what may lay ahead of us.