thanksgiving weekend...

Thanksgiving was a bit different for my family this year. Every year for as long as I can remember we have traveled to be with my mom’s extended family for the Thanksgiving holiday. This year was no exception {minus the fact that we only had to travel about 35 miles – which was absolutely FABULOUS} but we were missing some key people at the celebration. My grandma turned 92 just a few weeks ago and we had a grand birthday party for her! It was so fun to celebrate the MANY years of life she has lived and the role she has played in each of our lives. Following her birthday lunch she went to Palm Springs to stay with my Aunt Pat and Uncle Greg for a few weeks. The plan was that they would bring her to Thanksgiving and then we would take her home afterwards since she only lives about 15 minutes from my parent’s house. Well apparently Grandma got really sick right after she got to Pat & Greg’s {I say apparently because I didn’t find out anything until AFTER Grandma was already out of the hospital}. She spent a week getting really sick, then a week in the hospital, {which is quite the bummer since my aunt and uncle had some fabulously fun activities planned for her stay and she was sick the ENTIRE time} and just hadn’t recovered enough to visit with everyone on Thanksgiving day. It was unfortunate and we sincerely missed her being present at the table. However, since Grandma couldn’t come and she was staying with Pat & Greg, they couldn’t come either. A lot of mom’s extended family still came – but our branch of the family tree was severely lacking this year.
Friday Mom and Dad drove to Palm Springs to pick Grandma up and brought her back to their house to stay for a few days. She is such an independent woman that I’m sure she was not thrilled about the prospect of staying and being taken care of by our family – but she took it {and handled it fairly well from what I saw}. While they were gone, Jamie and I went shopping and managed to knock out a lot of our Christmas needs. I was really impressed with us – we spent 6 hours mulling through stores and I think I got gifts for all but 3 people on my list! NOT A BAD DAY! Friday night the entire family came over for dinner with Grandma – Kevin, Jamie, Madeline, Julie and boyfriend Tyler, Aunt Sandy…it was a FULL house. We managed to get 11 seated at our table for 6!
Saturday was another FULL day…my Dad’s side of the family lives out of town – but they were in the area looking at colleges for their youngest son Matt. Since they were so close, we decided to rendezvous in downtown San Diego for lunch at Filipe’s. It was REALLY fun catching up with them – the time was incredibly short {it always is} and I definitely wanted more – but it was wonderful to grab a hug and quick conversation anyway. When we got home from lunch Mom and I decided to go run some errands – I had seen a few things I thought she might want to purchase as Christmas gifts and I had a few items to pick up as well. We ventured out in the rain {I was totally unprepared for rain and didn’t pack any appropriate clothing – it has been HOT AND SUNNY all fall} and managed to get a few more good deals. We came home and had dinner with Dad and Grandma and then settled in for a World War II mini-series {my parents get movies from the library so they are always “interesting”}. During the movie I finished all the Ev. Free Fullerton Staff Christmas Party invitations – they needed bows and helped mom write her accreditation paper – it was a HIGHLY productive afternoon/evening.
Sunday was my last day at home and I FILLED it up! I met Cassandra at Starbucks at 8am before church to have coffee and catch up {I really wanted apple cider but they were out – devastating}. I went to first service with Dad and heard Mom sing in the ensemble {they sang a song that I sang in college – warmed my heart!!!}. After church I ran home to check on Grandma and say hi to my cousins who had come over to visit her then ran back to church, picked up Jenny, and had lunch with Jenny, Jamie, and Amber. Amber is engaged and planning her wedding with Jamie who is a bridesmaid and Jenny is in a very serious relationship and is planning a wedding for summer 2011. CRAZY that all my friends are moving into that stage of life! After lunch Mom and I ran yet MORE errands – I got all the stuff I needed to make zucchini bread {which makes the house smell absolutely DIVINE} for work friends and another gift or two. At about 7:00pm after making dinner for grandma and getting my MANY purchases loaded in the car, I headed for Orange County to my OWN BED.
It was a wonderful weekend full of family – not quite what I expected – definitely not typical – but a weekend to be thankful for nonetheless. Just a little something to leave you with - it doesn't get much cuter than that!!!!
That's me with the "M" I'm most thankful for in LIFE!