The More Thanks, The Better

This is a longer post, but when you have 2 Thanksgiving celebrations, what do you expect? Not to mention the fact that I can talk, if I'm given the challenge! :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We always celebrate any holiday the weekend before the actual day with Jay's family so we had our Praytor Thanksgiving with Gramma, PaPaw, Uncle Jim and Dakota (Aunt Stephy was with her grandmother at the hospital) last weekend.

Jay worked that day (Christmas light season is here!) so we didn't go to the Praytors' until that afternoon. When we got there, Gramma had had everything pretty much warmed up and ready for us to eat.

Truett helping Gramma get the food ready for us to eat.

Before we ate, Gramma read a Thanksgiving prayer to us from a prayer book she has and we said our blessing (which I always look forward to because Dakota and Truett are given the chance to thank God for things they are thankful for...Jay, Emma and I made Truett's list!) Then we all had a yummy dinner together.

Afterwards Truett and Dakota and I played upstairs for a little bit while Emma stayed downstairs and let everyone have their turn holding her.

Uncle Jim and Emma

Truett loves playing with Dakota and I think Dakota likes playing with Truett, too, because it gives Dakota a chance to be in charge, for once! :)

Truett dressing up as an 'astronaut'.

We finished off the night with some apple spice cake and pumpkin pie that Gramma had made. DELICIOUS!

The Goulas Thanksgiving was a little different this year. Usually, MawMaw (my mom's mom) and some other member of my mom's family (Uncle Timmy, Aunt Fran, etc...) come to Dallas for Thanksgiving. This year, no one was coming so we were flying solo. This is a bit strange for us because we're used to a big group gathered together for the big holidays.

Since we were 'loners' for Thanksgiving, my mom thought it would be a good idea to go to a soup kitchen or something to serve food to the needy. We looked into it and decided to head to Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas.

Jay and I dropped off the kids at Gramma and PaPaw's house yesterday morning and then met my family at my mom's house. We loaded up in two cars and headed to Dallas. When we pulled up to the church, there was a HUGE tent set up in the parking lot and TONS of people waiting in line. When we walked up to try to figure out where we were supposed to go, we realized that the loooong line of who we thought were people waiting to be fed was actually a loooong line of people who were waiting to serve! We stood in line with the other volunteers for 20-30 minutes and were then told that all of the volunteer positions had been filled. It was a little bit of a let down that we weren't able to serve like we had planned, but it was great to know that those who were in need of a hot meal yesterday were going to get one.

When we got back to the car, Jay and I realized that we were together without our kids and still had a few hours until his parents expected us back! We immediately started running down the 'To-Do' lists in our heads to see if there was anything that could be checked off. We decided to head to Garden Ridge and look at the Christmas trees. Nannie Em and Nannie Sarah were with us, so they came along for the ride. We ended up finding a great Christmas tree on sale, along with other decorations that were 50% off.

We loaded our purchases in the car and headed to my mom's. We usually have Thanksgiving lunch which means that all morning, my mom is running around in the kitchen, stressing out that lunch isn't going to be ready in time. Since we thought we were going to be serving lunch at the church, we decided to do Thanksgiving dinner, instead. It was actually very nice because my mom had plenty of time to cook and get things ready. My dad and John went to play tennis and Jay had gone to pick up the kids from his mom's housek, so my sisters and I actually got to spend some time with my mom. It was really nice.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty laid back. Once Emma and Truett went down for their naps, Jay and my dad followed suit. To pass the time, my mom, Emily, Sarah, John and I all played Loaded Questions (fun!!!!).

Around 4:00, my cousin, Jill (who lives in Dallas) showed up with her kiddos - Cameron, Zack and Luke. About that time Truett woke up from his nap and thought he had died and gone to Heaven! The kids ran around and played outside. They even stayed still long enough to have themselves traced in chalk on the sidewalk.

Cameron and Emma

Jill and Emma

Truett tracing Uncle John with chalk

The Praytors showed up around 5:30 and we all had dinner together.

Everything was absolutely delicious! MawMaw has done a wonderful job of passing down her recipes and techniques...she better watch out - my mom might out do her one of these days. :) We even found Truett sneaking an extra piece of pecan pie!

After dinner, we just sat around, visited and "watched" football.

It was a great way to spend our day. We are definitely blessed and enjoy having a day that allows us to stop and give thanks for all that we have. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

This is the Thanksgiving placemat Truett made at school...LOVE IT!