Thanksgiving was a blast with all of the family together again. I can only imagine the chaos and immense fun we should have if our cousins' cousins(the Womacks), and all of their spouses and offspring would come back for a holiday. We made great memories all through our childhood, raising raucous and running wild. It was a blessing to grow up and share life with a brood of cousins. As it were, we had 26 of us, nicely settled into Papaw's heated shop for the meal and loud fellowship. It seems I am able to eat much less than I did in my youth. Kind of sad really with all of that stuffing and potatoes just begging to be mowed down. The weather was a balmy mid 40s as far out as the forecast would go, until it dropped to -16. That didn't slow Audrey down one bit. The girl LOVES to go. She toddled around the yard with Sam by her side, digging in dirt and mud, swiping at the massive piles of snow atop every object left out, climbing through barbed wire fences and sauntering half way across the horse pasture while on my "watch". She is a fearless adventurer, even when the boys poop out and bag the snow for TV time. A week at home isn't enough time to see all of the people I would like to see and get quality time with precious friends and family. I suppose it is a good thing; We love and are loved by many incredible people.
Shortly upon returning from MT, we ventured out in the bitter, bitter, cold to cut down a tree. That was less fun than we make it out to be. I mean, it is a better tradition than buying one off a lot or inserting the branches on the fakey we have in storage but man was it COLD. We quickly picked a tree that was "good enough", lopped it off and hauled out of there. Nearly all of the bagillion lights we purchased last year were half dead this year, making me even more sure that they sell us garbage on purpose so they can get us to buy them again each year. I strung about one sixth the amount of lights on it this year and I am sure I will be thanking myself when I tear it all down.
The kids are old enough and just interested enough to help out and they did a nice job hanging the ornaments as far as they could reach. I also sprung for technicolor baby trees for the rooms and there is glitter everywhere one can imagine.
A friend from our small group at church does photography on the side, and caught some super snap shots of our family. I will share some with you now :)
