Canadian Thanksgiving

Canadian Thanksgiving always seems to come too early. My "Pavlov's dogs" conditioned response is to be decorating for Christmas and shopping after thanksgiving. And it kinda kicked in. I have a few things for the kids already...shhhh. Anyway, with Thanksgiving comes a welcomed day off! Woo hoo! It was a different holiday this year. Justin's parents were in Utah for General Conference and were driving home on Thanksgiving, so we just had a dinner all to ourselves. I was sad we weren't going to spend it with lots of family, but luckily we were invited to Uncle Ron and Aunt Tammy's place on Saturday after conference for dinner. It was delicious!! Always tastes better when you don't have to make it yourself!! Then after we ate Justin went with Ron and Connor and "Little" Justin (Jaclyn's new hubby. He is Justin #2.:) ) to Cardston to watch the priesthood session with Grandpa Low. I stayed with all of the ladies and we chatted and ate our pie while my kids played SO WELL!! We need to come to your place more often Tammy!! Barely heard a peep from them, they loved it there! Thank you so much for having us!!
Thanksgiving Monday I made a meal for our little family. It was a lot of work (only because I made it that way) but it was fun and we got to have tons of leftover turkey! Our favorite! And I even boiled the bones later on and made delicious soup too. Thanks for teaching me Mom! It was YUMMY!!! Zach said it tasted just like Mer Mer's and it was his favorite soup ever. Makes me so happy when my kids just EAT and don't FUSS.

I was in the kitchen from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Does that make it a successful Thanksgiving? Yes...because it included cranberry muffins (MY FAVORITE!), Great Grandma Low's jello, delicious homemade buns (Shirley's recipe...the BEST!), and turkey. The only thing it was missing was my mom's stuffing, which was my favorite part of American Thanksgiving. I was explaining to Zach that there are 2 Thanksgivings, Canadian and American. He asked me, "When the real Thanksgiving comes (American...) are we going to eat with real Indians?" Um, we could probably make that happen. HA!!

Cheers!

The girls made these at preschool. They are the things they are grateful for. Kara is grateful for Dad, Jesus, Princesses, Cousins and family, and Mom. Kate is grateful for Mom, school, sisters and brothers, daddy, and "Nonny" which is really Nani...Kate's favorite cousin...but we don't have favorites, right? She just loves Nani though! Always looks up to her and wants to be with her, talk to her, play with her.

Zach wanted to show his pine cone turkey centerpiece he made for us at school. He also had an Indian hat with a feather he made there for his Thanksgiving feast at school, but I forgot to put it on him! Boo.

 

I made eclair cake for dessert. When I opened the oven I thought "how the heck am I supposed to spread pudding on top of that?" So bubbly and fun. And delicious in the end! It calmed down a bit. 

And this was probably my favorite part of the night. Family Ring Around the Rosie. THIS is what life is all about. Adaleigh was loving it and the kids were too. Babies sure bring a lot of love and joy into a household. I am so so so so so so so so grateful for my family. My kids, my amazing super duper hard working husband, all of my extended family, great friends who are like family, and the Gospel; knowing who I am, why I am here, and what I am supposed to do and become. I could go on and on. I am grateful.

Great, sweet memory. :) Raising kids is busy, fun, hard, taxing, and funny. But you just have to live for moments like this that make it all worth it and beautiful.  Elder Ballard gave an incredible talk that mentioned this. "The joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction." This was one of those.