Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

For Thanksgiving this year, we had the wonderful opportunity to travel up to PA to spend it with my family. This is especially special because it's been about 5 years since I've gotten to spend Thanksgiving with my family. A short side note, though: I called my parents to tell them about Frank and I coming up (Frank strongly urged me to do this - I had wanted to just drive up and surprise them) and my dad's first response was: "You're kidding." I said, "No" and he went on to explain that they had been invited somewhere else for Thanksgiving this year. I was very thankful that I had followed my husband's advice and called!!=) This is especially funny to me, because last year my parents, brother and grandma ended up eating at Ruby Tuesdays for Thanksgiving. So I wasn't very worried about just showing up! I'm glad I called!=) Anyway. . .

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Frank and I were able to take 2 extra days off of work to compensate for the drive up there. The day that we drove up it had snowed in PA, but thankfully had stopped midway through the day and the roads were clear. We had slow going on the way up, but it was worth it once we got home. =)

Thanksgiving day Mom, Dad and I got up at 7 to walk in a Turkey Trot (5k) in Uniontown, PA. Yes, it was quite chilly that morning (I believe it was 25 degrees out, although that may be optimistic thinking on my part), but I have to admit that it was nice to get out for the walk. Salvation Army was the sponsor of the walk and I made decent time. My parents on the other hand smoked me. =) They walked around once, followed the runners in and thought they had posted a great time!! And they truly had!! Then they noticed that I wasn't around and they started wondering what had happened. They finally discovered that they had only done half of the walk!=) It was pretty funny! My mom did make sure she went back and told the right people what had happened. We didn't stick around for the results, but instead headed off to do a little Christmas shopping and enjoy some coffee. Then it was back home to finish watching the parade.

Later that evening we (my mom, dad, brother, grandma and husband) had the opportunity to go to Upper St. Clair to have Thanksgiving with my cousin and his family. It was a nice time to visit and catch up with them. They have a lovely home and were very kind to allow Frank and I to join them at such late notice. My cousin's wife prepared a very yummy meal and we all ate until we were stuffed!=)

The rest of the trip was spent visiting with family and doing a little bit of Christmas shopping. On Sunday, my younger sister and her husband came over and we had another Thanksgiving. It was nice to see them and I was grateful that they came (they had spent Thanksgiving in New York with his family). We also spent some time playing on the Wii (My mom was determined to get one while we were there. My brother was nice enough to stand in line for 2 hours Friday morning to make sure she had it! We had a good time creating our Mii's and playing the different games) and playing our normal Lake Norman card game (This game does have another name, but I can never remember it. So it is now named after our family vacation spot.).=) My brother, Zac, also taught us a new card game and that was fun to play too. I have to admit, though, that it's hard to play any game with Frank, because he tends to win them all (He is just so stinkin' lucky!).=)

It was a wonderful trip (although I did lose my voice the day after we got there!! Yeah, try catching up with your family when you have no voice - I was finally able to squeak out words by Saturday.) and a great Thanksgiving! I am thankful for many, many things, but one of the biggest things I'm thankful for is for my family. Especially my husband who makes sure I am well taken care of and who will do a 12 hour drive in one day just so I can see my family. I am truly overwhelmed.