3 Thanksgiving's

Well I must admit this post (and the next couple to come) are obvious late in the writing. But they've been on my mind for some time! In fact everytime I think about my blog or wanting to write or anything else I would think this exact blog post title "3 Thanksgivings" because it was what I wanted to write back in November.

     My family for the past few years have done 2 Thanksgiving dinners. We would go out to my grandma's house in the desert the Saturday before for her dinner. My grandma started doing that several years ago so that more family would be able to travel in and come. Then on Thanksgiving we would have our family one at home with a smaller crowd. So this year was no different really. There was still the dinner at grandmas which my mom was preparing this year, but then instead of the traditional dinner on Thurs (since mom was already cooking the Sat before) my cousin set up a pot-luck at Denise and Neals house. ....now of course you may be wondering where the third comes into play? Well then there's J. he came along for both of my thanksgiving dinners (even out to grandma's) and then I went with him to his.

Grandma's house was a traditional dinner. We had the turkey and all the fixins and there was a ham made as well. It was nice. My Uncle Danny came out from New Jersey. It was great to see him, but also brought on additional emotions because he was only able to come since my cousin Shawn had passed away in March :-( so it was already the first thanksgiving without dad, so it was additionally bittersweet with Uncle Danny, because we had lost Shawn. Overall I kept most of the emotions under control. J. got to meet a lot more of my family members and see how crazy some of them really are as well. It was fun though.

Thanksgiving day was a little bit harder. It was odd not doing a traditional meal but we had some great food and some good times! It was nice and Kristies boyfriend S. smoked a turkey, and tri-tip. Then we had potatoes and veges and all sorts of other side as well. Yummy! It was hard though because when we sat down to eat, my nephews pointed out the empty chair where "Papa" would normally sit. So of course several of us had a hard time with that and it brought on more tears. It's a really hard adjustment overall!

For the third T-giving I went with J. to his step-moms house for dinner. As it turns out his step-mom has always done her Thanksgiving on the Sat after Thanksgiving since she is an ER nurse and so for many years would always be working on the holiday. So Sat after thanksgiving J. and I went to our third large dinner of the week. She did a large ham and turkey and a bunch of sides. It was good. I offered, made and brought two pumpkin pies which were a hit. I had also brought some sparkling cider, which was nice for J. and I since many of the others there were there were having wine. It was nice since other than his mom, this was the first time I had met any of his family. I was super nervous but it went well. They always do a poker tournament after dinner (no money, just the satisfaction of winning, and holding the title until next year) I didn't participate but I watched and helped shuffle cards in between rounds. After that we helped his step mom get out Christmas decorations so that she could start her decorating. Things went well that night. I also got to meet his stepmom's roommate Heather. She's awesome and is also a Disneyland Annual Passholder. We planned to go together sometime, which ended up being yesterday! So much fun!  :)

So my first Thanksgiving without my dad, was hard. But at the same time there were many firsts and there were blessings. I met some wonderful people. Got to see some extended family that I hadn't seen in a few years and try some new foods. I cried some but also had so much to be thankful for. I am so glad I made it thru.