Thanksgiving 2017

Happy Tuesday!  I’m finally getting around to sharing our Thanksgiving break with you.

Sunday night I sat down to blog and our power went out!  We were without power for about an hour and my laptop and phone were both dead, so I was out of luck to blog.

Then, yesterday at school the power went out again!  We spent all of first hour in the dark.  It was interesting, to say the least.  Supposedly, there was a bad wreck and someone hit a utility pole Sunday evening to make the power go out, and then Monday morning that same utility pole caught on fire again.  Whew!  I am thankful the electric company restored power so quickly and the guy in the wreck is doing okay.

Now, on to our Thanksgiving break.  We had a wonderful time off with family!  I enjoyed every minute of it and am counting down the days until Christmas break.

Wednesday we were off from school and I don’t have one picture to prove what we did.  I am sure it was a lot of Hallmark Christmas movies and watching Netflix.  We were pretty lazy that day!

Thursday was Thanksgiving at Doniphan.  We headed to my Nini’s house first.  This year EVERYONE was able to be there at the same time!  It was wonderful!  My heart was sad that dad wasn’t there, and there was an emptiness without him, but we had a great day of visiting with family and eating wonderful food!  We also took the opportunity to get a big group shot of all of us.  It took us a lot of tries to get a good shot!

 

 

 

After my Nini’s house, we went over to my Aunt Debbie’s house for a little bit.  This is my dad’s sister.  I had a HARD time going over there.  It was just more of a reminder that dad wasn’t there.  I didn’t want my mom to go alone though and it was great to see my aunts and grandma and grandpa Helms.  I also got to see a cousin from Farmington and meet her new baby, Vivian.

We didn’t get back home until late Thursday evening, but our hearts were happy and bellies were full from a great day with loved ones.

Friday Chris worked up at the Teen Challenge thrift store and the girls and I slept in.  We went up to Cape later that afternoon and hit up Hobby Lobby before heading out to Chris’s parents’ house.  Chris’s dad had the flu earlier in the week, so we didn’t get to have our normal Thanksgiving celebration with them.  We ended up just going out to eat together at Texas Roadhouse.  I was horrible at remembering to take pictures this day and didn’t take any at all!  #bloggerfail

My family also voted against me on getting a real Christmas tree.  Emily said that Santa would get confused if we had more than one big tree in our house and they didn’t want one down in the basement.  So that idea was thrown out the window!  Maybe next year….

Saturday we decked our halls!  We had put up our big Christmas tree a few days earlier but didn’t have time to decorate it yet.  So Saturday we spent all morning decorating the tree and sitting out some other Christmas decorations.  It is so bittersweet to get out all of the ornaments we have collected over the years and remember when/why we got them.  I have so many from previous students that I love to put on the tree every year.  Of course, Elizabeth and Emily’s homemade ones are my favorites as well.

Saturday afternoon we cleaned the house, cleaned the garage, went grocery shopping, and then watched Christmas with the Kranks’ together.  My mom, sister, and brother-in-law stopped by on their way home from Cape that day and we visited with them for an hour.  It was great to see them!

Sunday was church and then we headed to Doniphan for the afternoon.  Chris and my brother-in-law, Matt, went hunting together and everyone else went to Nini’s house to help her decorate her tree.  My sister and Matt got her a real Christmas tree so all the great grand-kids helped her decorate it that Sunday afternoon.  It was fun to watch them help Nini.  Her tree turned out beautiful!

That evening the girls and I went to a special church service with my mom.  It was a Hanging of the Greens Christmas service.  They had a nice part of the service where they remembered lost loved ones with poinsettias.  The church had bought a white poinsettia in remembrance of dad and then we bought two red ones in remembrance of him as well.  Mom carried the white poinsettia and the girls and I were able to carry ours up to the front during the service.  It was a wonderful evening of celebrating the Christmas season but was also so emotional at the same time.  I miss my dad so much!  I was glad we were able to attend the service with my mom.

Leaving you with our #selfieSunday.  I pray you have a blessed week!

P.S.  Please remember my mother-in-law in your prayers this week.  She made it to MD Anderson yesterday and her first appointment is this morning!  We should know more later this week, but I am asking for God’s peace to be with her and James this week as they go to all of their appointments.

~Jen