Thanksgiving is behind us and all things are full speed ahead toward Christmas now….

It’s definitely my favorite time of the year. Before things get too hectic, I wanted to be sure and post a recap of our thanksgiving this year!

Our celebration always starts the night before. Our church never has service that night to allow the congregation time with -their family. The past I -don’t -even -know -how -many- years, we have opened our home to the youth group to just come relax and hang out. If you ask my family, apparently I turn into a bucket full of crazy before we host any event. It makes no difference if it is a Youth event, birthday party, or even just a simple dinner…. I always try to make our home look it’s best, meaning I always have a to do list. Our home is pretty small, but I love having people over. The ministry of hospitality was one of the things that the Lord really spoke to my heart when I left my full time job. I feel like I do have a knack for planning/preparing/hosting. Sometimes I let the size of the house stop me from opening it up to friends. God is reminding me that people are so often hurting- what really matters is the fact that you invite them and pour into their lives, no matter the menu or house size. It doesn’t all have to be pinterest perfect… just be authentic.

Anyways… not sure where all that came from…. back to our thanksgiving…

We loved having everyone over. We ended up with about 23 and enjoyed having a fire and oysters in the backyard. We had frogmore stew and chili ready in the house. Everyone just laughed and watched Christmas movies and had a great time. We spend so much time with these students every week, they are our family and we love them!

Thanksgiving is the one holiday that we stay home and don’t go anywhere. I involve my family in planning the menu and instead of choosing sides, they always choose the ‘all of the above’ option. We end up with a giant spread for only four people….but I always warn them that I am not cooking again until at least Monday!! 😂😂

This year we ended up with Roasted Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, potato salad, deviled eggs, and rolls. Wowzers! We also had a pecan silk pie, a caramel pie, and a pumpkin roll for dessert! Our fridge is so full of Tupperware containers that I was struggling for a place to put bottled water this morning! We had a fabulous day together! It always starts with lounging on the couch and watching the parade while going through the Black Friday ads in the paper! Since it is just the four of us, I don’t have any pressure as far as an eating time. We just eat whenever I get it all ready! My daughter came and helped in the kitchen some this year and also helped me set the table. We try and make it a special occasion- which means a nice table scape and I get out the gold silverware!

We have so much to be thankful for! Even when times are hard or we might find ourselves waiting on promises from God to be fulfilled, we can still rest in His faithfulness.

After we rested for a few hours, I got to take this beautiful girl out for a little Black Friday shopping!

We hit a few stores Thursday night and we’re back home before midnight. We crashed and slept in the next morning. We took our time getting ready and went back out to go to two more stores Friday! (Ya know I had to take a trip to Hobby Lobby)

The one thing that has been different this year is our Christmas decor. We usually buy our tree the day before Thanksgiving, so that it is ready to move in the house and decorate on Friday. The grocery store down the street from our house where we have bought our tree from for years did not have them this year. So, we ended up finally getting our tree from Lowes TODAY. That’s crazy to me! Usually our home is completely decorated and the tree is finished. Not true for this year! But, I do have the fall decor put away. Sticking to his Black Friday routine, my husband did get all of the outside lights put up! #waytogobabe

Although it might be weird for me to not have everything all set up, I am glad that we were able to find a tree today and am looking forward to decorating it (fingers crossed) tomorrow!

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and took a moment to recognize all the things in your life that you have to be thankful for! ❤️