Thanksgiving Past and Present

It’s hard to believe this year was the girls’ FIFTH Thanksgiving.  Wow.

At this point, I can still remember each holiday celebration, and the girls loved the little tidbits I shared with them…

We’d planned to spend their first Thanksgiving – when they were almost 11 months old – in Alabama, but the girls came down with their first colds.  We called off our three-day plans, but we still braved the trip to have lunch with Aunt GG…down and back, 500 miles round-trip in one day.  We just caught Starbucks still open when we were about 2/3 of the way home.  We fed them bottles, and Mommy and Daddy got a little caffeinated boost.

Their second Thanksgiving we made it to Granddaddy and Emme’s house, high chairs and all.

By their third Thanksgiving we’d decided that we’d only make one holiday trip to Alabama, shortly before Christmas.  We spent our first Thanksgiving at home, just the four of us.  The girls were tickled to eat in the dining room, not sitting in high chairs…a very rare treat!

Last year, we spent the girls’ fourth Thanksgiving with our bestest twin friends.  We made crafts and played…how sweet it was to see our little Pilgrims hamming it up together.

This year, our twin friends were out of town, so it was just us four again.  The girls were so excited to eat in the dining room…our first time to do so in the new house!

The girls were excited to get up on Thanksgiving morning.  They milled around and we had a nice family breakfast…and then B finally asked, “Mommy, last year I think you gave us gifts on Thanksgiving, didn’t you?”  “Remember, we got new panties and a book.”  It took me a few seconds to place that they were thinking about Valentine’s Day.  I reminded them that Thanksgiving is a time for family.  The rest of the day, they kept repeating, “Thanksgiving isn’t about gifts; it’s about family,” over and over.  HA!

The girls were also so excited for me to cook a turkey (breast).  I guess they were fueled by a couple of Thanksgiving-themed books we read, but they just thought it was grand.  They watched the entire operation from their “cooking show” stance across the kitchen island.

The girls helped me make the cranberry sauce.  They loved watching the berries POP, and they were pretty proud of their effort.

They had turkey races in the basement…where they flapped their “wings” and made “gobble-gobble” sounds as they ran around.

We made our traditional batch of Chex mix, and they watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade for the first time ever while they munched away.  They liked the Rockettes (“the people that all do the same thing when they dance”); they both asked for tap shoes; and Baby A now wants to play the drums.

When it was time for lunch, the girls were giddy to help me carry things to the table.  (I flashed to the scene in our Curious George book, when he tries to carry too many of the Thanksgiving trimmings at once.  I begged them to carry only one thing at a time!)

My A spread “her” cranberry sauce on everything, including the sweet potatoes and the creamed spinach.  I was not really a fan of that idea, but I let her have her fun.

After we enjoyed a big meal, it was time for dessert…and TWO desserts, at that.  The girls each had a half a slice of pumpkin cheesecake, and half a piece of our pecan pie bars.

And I keep laughing at Baby A’s sly plea.  After her meal AND dessert, she told me she was still hungry.  HOW can that be, A???  “My tummy digested it really quickly. It’s already in my intestines, Mommy! I need more pecan pie!”

Nice try, Kiddo.

Along those lines, here's my favorite picture from the day...A checking to see if B left her anything to eat!

"I can't believe she ate the whole thing!"

 

All in all, we are very thankful for another memorable year!