Thanksgiving.
This might be one of my ultimate favorite holidays. I love how the air just starts getting chilly and oh, the fall colors. Simply amazing. And then, there's the food. I had a plan for this Thanksgiving. My family was supposed to drive up from Greenville to spend it with us. I had a great menu picked out: apple cider clove ham, green bean casserole, a pumpkin toffee trifle... lots more. But, things didn't go as planned. My Granny went home to be with the Lord and my mom was up in Virginia Beach with her a few days before. When I got the call, I knew my plan was no longer taking place. God had a plan in mind - but I was still so sad. I wanted to cook for family and tell jokes and not worry about what else was going on. But, now, my mom was in VA, my dad and brothers in SC and my family in TN. My parents have never spent Thanksgiving apart from each other and I knew it was hurting both of them deeply. My dad couldn't be there to hold my mom when she needed it most - and he couldn't because of a small, tiny, finite detail called Brick Street Cafe - cakes and pies for Thanksgiving. They had over 600 go out this year. A new record. Mainly the sweet potato cake. That was the number 1 hit. Dad and Mark and James had to be there at the cafe to ensure that everything went according to plan. It didn't. So, Thomas and I knew we didn't want to be by ourselves this Thanksgiving. We called his mom and asked her if we could join them. She graciously said yes. What a great decision. We drove to SC on Wednesday so that we could spend the day with my Dad before he left for VA. We got to the cafe only to find that they had run out of cream cheese frosting and were scurrying to make more. I ended up back in the kitchen with my Dad like old times 15 years ago, peeling sweet potatoes. 84 lbs of sweet potatoes to be exact.
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| Peeling away... |
After this was all said and done we finally were able to leave after about 5 hours of helping calm people down and bake and clean. We ate dinner with my Dad at Barley's - a Greenville favorite and then drove over to the Russell house. It was so great to see them again! We were so tired, so we went to bed.
Dad was supposed to leave Thursday after he got the baking done for a party for 185 on Monday night at the cafe. That's a lot of baking. Getting ready for a party that size and restocking the cafe of desserts. Mark was going to help, except he ended up with a stomach migraine. He was throwing up all night until he finally passed out around 5:30 am Thursday morning. (As you can see, Thanksgiving wasn't really going as planned for my family either). Dad went in by himself and got started.
We woke up and started our Thanksgiving day. We knew dinner was at 6 so we visited a lot with our Russell family. Wilson loved the walker that Grammy found and he loved playing with the decorative gords on her kitchen table.
The boys and Faith raked leaves while Wilson and I watched from the swingset. We chatted with Seth on skype for awhile as he couldn't be in South Carolina for Thanksgiving. Once family started arriving Wilson had a great time showing off and being passed around. The food was smelling great too!
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| Watching Seth's wonderful Thanksgiving video |
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| Snuggling up with Uncle Eth |
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| Lovin' Grammy |
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| Our place cards - We traced Wilson's hand and scanned it so that it could be used for these. :) |
Overall, it was a wonderful day. The food was amazing and the time with family was so worth it. We cannot wait til we can go back for Spencer and Maria's wedding on the 17th. Boy, is being only 6 hours away so much nicer than 14 or 15.
In Christ,
Julie
