Loooong Weekend Recap

Today is the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'm still full, tired and really not wanting to be at work today. It was a great weekend spent with family and friends.

Thanksgiving

I had volunteered to make the mashed potatoes, stuffing and green bean casserole this year. J has fried the turkey for the past 2 years so keeping with tradition we also brought the turkey to my mom's.

(my sister and Cousin)

(my cute mom)

My cousin from Oklahoma is working in Los Angeles right now so she was able to spend the day with us. We had so much food (as we always do) and were too stuffed to do too much after dinner.

I have to make a special note about my mom's pumpkin roll. This thing is to die for. She says it is easy to make but I'm too scared to tackle this one. Maybe for Christmas...

Also keeping with tradition we spread out the ads for Black Friday and mapped out our plan for our shopping trip.

Sister and I have gone out shopping the day after Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. Kohls opened up at 4am this year so this meant getting up and out there around 2am. We have our system down. We take our chairs, blankets and DVD player. By the time the movie is over it's time to put away the chairs and get ready for them to open up the doors.

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Besides having to get up at 1:30am - it's really pleasant. Until you have someone cut in line!!! It's just so rude - especially to all the people that got up sooo early to have some inconsiderate people just slide in line right before the doors open. I was ready to go to blows but I didn't have time - I had to get in and get my shop on!!!

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These pictures do not show how incredibly long the line was but we were about the 15th in line I tried to get a picture of the cutters but couldn't without being too obvious. The front of the line

The end of the line is wwwwwwwwwwayyyy back there.

I did pick up a couple things for me - including this cute little hat...

We spent the rest of the day shopping until I literally dropped. I'm too old for this. I, I mean Santa did find the long sought after Wii for Buddy and a great deal on a camera for Daughter.

Saturday we went to J's mom's house in Laguna Beach for Thanksgiving with his family. Thank goodness she completely understands the lack of desire to travel on holidays. I brought my absolute favorite Thanksgiving dish - sweet potatoes.



Buddy was so good and patient while we waited and waited and waited for the turkey to finish. J's mom's oven is old and needs to be replaced... He helped himself to his fave - black olives.

Is there any wonder why I love this boy so much!!!


Sunday we (Me, J, Buddy, Daughter, "B" Daughter's boyfriend) all went bowling. It was the first time I've actually ever bowled with Daughter - it was a lot of fun. After bowling we hit the arcade. All I hear is "mom - quit taking pictures".

Even J showed his appreciation for the constantly taking pictures....

I have so much to be thankful for - I need to remember to appreciate every day and thank God every day for what I have.

Meaning Of Thanksgiving

I wanted to post this before Thanksgiving - but didn't get the chance. I still think it deserves to be posted.
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The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving
As we all enjoy turkey and the trimmings this Thanksgiving, you may be interested to know that the first Thanksgiving celebration in America was a completely religious observance that didn't include a feast.
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It occurred in 1619 -- more than a year before the Pilgrims arrived from Massachusetts. A group of 38 English settlers arrived in Virginia and set aside a day to give thanks to God for their safe passage. The three-day festival of food and friendship that was the origin of Thanksgiving as we know it today didn't occur until 1621.
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Not Just a Private Celebration, a Public Thanks to God
Ever since, Thanksgiving has been a time for Americans not just to celebrate privately in our homes but to give public thanks to God -- and not just for our material blessings but for our freedom. Our earliest Thanksgivings were in times when that freedom was at its most vulnerable.
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In 1789, George Washington issued a proclamation calling for a day of "public thanksgiving and prayer" -- a day for Americans to acknowledge "the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
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But Washington didn't just say that individual Americans should thank God. He proclaimed that nations -- especially the one-year-old United States of America -- have obligations to God as well. He wrote, "It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor."
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Lincoln Makes It a Yearly Celebration
But it wasn't until more than 70 years later -- at a time when America faced its greatest crisis -- that Thanksgiving became a yearly celebration.
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The Civil War was raging. Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had left 50,000 Americans killed, wounded or missing. Riots were tearing apart American cities.In the midst of this chaos, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in October 1863 that the last Thursday of November should henceforth be set aside as a day of thanksgiving.
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Lincoln acknowledged that the nation was "in the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity." But he focused instead on the nation's blessings, urging his fellow Americans to remember that "No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."
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And Lincoln, too, proclaimed that all Americans set aside the day for a public expression of gratitude to God. He wrote, "It has seemed to me fit and proper that they [gifts of God] should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people."