Thanksgiving

I am wishing for thoughtful and useful things to say here today, but I fear that late-pregnancy-brain is getting the better of me! Nighttime sleep has become pretty unrestful, to say the least. It's crazy how the baby really takes over in these last days.

After days of writing myself little reminders to do so, I finally snapped a belly shot of myself at 38 weeks, just for the record, on Thanksgiving Day.

BB and the kids and I enjoyed a nice, slow morning together, including a big breakfast of very ugly, messy, but tasty, pancakes, along with sausage.

Then we started in on food preparations while the Macy's Parade marched by on the tv screen. It's really the Rockettes that I like to see, but my mama always turned on the Parade on Thanksgiving Day, so I do, too.

BB sat down with the little ones and made a Pilgrim hat craft with them. He's done a little something like this with them for the past few years. BH wore his hat proudly for a lot of the day, usually backwards.

LC made the pumpkin pies and MK made the pecan ones. Both were excellent. I had them make double, but in the end we only ate 2, so I've frozen the extra for a Christmas treat.

BB snapped this panoramic of Thanksgiving Dinner. Our turkey took forever to roast, so it really did turn into a supper-meal, rather than the late lunch we usually enjoy. It was worth the wait! Oh, hey - there's BH in his backwards Pilgrim hat.

I'm not sure what had CJ so despondent at the table, but that turkey! BB did a great job preparing and roasting it. All the kids pitched in on food prep and everything was delicious, truly.

MK and AH at the buffet line. Mashed potatoes were a huge favorite among all. AH was in charge of the homemade macaroni and cheese, which also turned out beautifully.

EG was my deviled egg producer - again, success! There was no waste, I assure you. These were gobbled up over the next two days. We didn't finish all the dressing or macaroni, both of which I also froze for a future festive meal (or just an easy post-baby supper).

One thing I'm really thankful for here at the end of pregnancy is that I'm...here. Last time, by this point, I'd given birth to BH at 35 weeks after the 6 or so weeks of living in the hospital before he was born. I am just glad that God's allowed me to be here - doing homemaking-wife-mom things: the school and errands and cooking and conversations and training and a great date with BB this week. It's also been fun to get ready for the holidays earlier than normal.

As the discomfort increases and the sleep decreases, I am also grateful for such a normal pregnancy, with this growing, vigorous baby girl.

I hope this finds you having enjoyed God's goodness and blessings over Thanksgiving and that Christmas is a beautiful time of understanding His kindness and gospel better and better!