Happy Thanksgiving

Traditions~

Before we moved from Utah we basically could count on the same Thanksgiving from year to year.  My sisters and brothers all gather at my mom and dads and have the traditional Thanksgiving fare and hang out for hours and play games as we go back for fourth servings by the end of the night.  One year we ate at Grandma Dee's and Scott cooked a goose instead of the traditional turkey.  It was rather delicious.  But our traditions have changed over the years since moving away from family.

We found ourselves eating at the hotel Thanksgiving buffet for our 3 years in New Mexico.  I was given the job of decorating the 2 hotels for Christmas while we lived there.  It was a huge undertaking and we (my mom and I) had to begin the process the night before Thanksgiving and also work the evening of Thanksgiving as well as the following 3-4 days after Thanksgiving in order to get 10 12ft.-15ft trees and all the trimmings up before Dec. 1st.  It was quite the undertaking and I was so busy that I didn't have the time to fix a Thanksgiving dinner or worry about the clean up.  While my mom and I would be busy working on the decorating Scott would take the kids to a movie.

Then we moved to Rochester our first Thanksgiving here the kids and I flew out to Utah for a few days.  Scott wasn't able to come with us.  And as nice as it was to see family I missed Scott so much and it was just odd to celebrate without him.  The next year we were invited over to a good friend's home and had a lovely time. The year after this we all drove out to Utah (Scott included) and had a very enjoyable time with family.  But this year we have found ourselves in a bit of a predicament.  We are in the middle of our move.  I have half the house packed up and I have been painting all week long so I have not had the time or energy  to make a big dinner for my family. So this year we found ourselves enjoying a wonderful dinner at the hotel buffet again.  I love to eat at the hotel...they offer so many yummy choices and from seafood, the traditional choices, and even breakfast foods like made to order omelets.  We also went to the movie Harry Potter after our meal.

So as for traditions....I guess we do what ever fits our life at the time.  Some times that means spending time with extended family, sometimes it means working hard and enjoying a dinner at the hotel and sometimes it means hanging out with friends.  I guess that no matter where we eat our meal the important thing is being together with the most important people in my life.

I hope that I will have many years of Thanksgiving dinner's to share with my husband and kids as our lives and circumstances change over the years.  I guess our family tradition is to never be set in our ways and just  go with the flow and whatever life throws at us for Thanksgiving.

On this day of being grateful I truly have a heart over flowing with gratitude for a kind and loving Heavenly Father who loves me and blesses my life with an abundant amount of tender mercies but most of all He blesses me with a family that brings me great joy.  I love them with all my heart!