Lots to give thanks for

Here I sit, on Christmas (well, by the time I posted this it's well after Christmas), wrapping paper still in piles on the floor, the family still in PJs, Dave and his Mom making a lamb roast for dinner, Evan happily bouncing in the bouncer, and I realize I have lots to give thanks for.

And I also realize it's time to catch the blog up with a Thanksgiving post. So here goes.

We were excited to head back to Rochester for Thanksgiving this year, for a number of reasons. Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday in my family, when all the aunts and uncles and cousins come from near and far to gather at my Aunt Sue's house for our annual family football game, the Turkey Bowl, and a huge Thanksgiving meal. In recent years the celebration's branched out to include more friends and extended family and new husbands or wives and more recently, new children to add to the mix. It's been hard in the past couple of years to make it to Rochester for the big event, but this year we certainly had to go, as Evan had yet to meet most of his extended family. Another bonus was that my brother and family (including baby #2 who's on the way!) made it back to Rochester too. And we wanted to go back to see Oma - my grandmother - who is almost 87 and still as feisty as ever but not in the best of health, so she could meet Evan. We all piled into my Mom's house for a jam-packed almost-week of family, family, family. Other than the fact that it was freezing which we are so not used to at this point, we had a wonderful time. Evan even got to see his first snowfall - just a few flakes but snow nonetheless!

Our annual Turkey Bowl went well, except that the silly Redskins actually won (every year the Bills take on the Redskins, and as a Bills former team member, it pains me to see the 'Skins win...). We bundled Evan up to take him outside to watch the action, but he decided sleeping in his nice cozy snowsuit was a much better way to spend his time. Maybe next year. Dinner was fabulous, as ever, though I threw Evan under the bus a bit and willingly (happily) ate my Aunt Gail's sticky buns and Chex mix, which I knew to have butter in it but I just couldn't resist as it's such a tradition, and the poor boy broke out in red spots the whole next week. Bad Mommy.



The day after Thanksgiving we all gather at my aunt's again for leftovers, and even more extended family come to visit. This year my half-sister Mary and her son Billy came to Rochester for the occasion, and it was good to see her as usual. We also started a new tradition - the Cousin Line-Up: Generation 2. This is something I used to do growing up with all my cousins on Thanksgiving, which has now been passed down.

And, we all crowded in for an extended family picture...our bunch just keeps growing and growing!

Just about every day we went to visit Oma at her apartment. It was wonderful to see her light up so much with Evan and Landon around, and it was very special indeed to see Oma, Evan's great-grandma, to hold him close for hugs for the first time. My aunt and uncle and cousin Todd also came for a very short visit, and of course met Evan too. Todd sells hats, so any picture of him ever taken features the obligatory hat on his head. At least they're cool hats.