Two In A Row

Thanksgiving week has officially concluded, and while I'll be exhausted for some time from it all, I stand by that it ended all too soon. 

Here are my thankfuls for the week that was....

1. This made the list last week but is worth a re-post: I took off Monday and Tuesday, so I had a zero-day work week. Woot! Woot!

2. I'm thankful for old family recipes that remain traditions. Our family couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving without my great aunt Ecie's sugar cookies. Or my mom's pumpkin pie (along with her secret pie crust recipe). 

3. It feels as though I was at the grocery store a dozen times last week, but I didn't mind, because I enjoy grocery shopping - I like comparing prices and reading labels and people watching. It is also not lost on me that grocery shopping is a privilege many don't have.

4. While shopping at Aldi, I kept meeting a family on each aisle as we traversed the store, and I'm smiling now just remembering the absolutely adorable children riding in the grocery cart while mom pushed and dad followed. There was a boy who was 4 at the most and his probably 2 year old sister, and they were precious! The boy had red, tousled curls and wore red glasses and his sister's red hair was pulled up like a turnip top, and they chattered and giggled and asked questions and were absolutely angel babies. I could have eaten them up with a spoon, they were so sweet! 

5. My daughter came down to the lake house for the holiday on Wednesday, and she then made the hour drive on Thursday morning to pick up my son and his wife from the airport. 

6. It was a delight to spend time with my kids! They are smart and funny, and I don't get to see them nearly enough, especially the two that live in DC. My heart is bursting with pride over what they have already accomplished in life.

7. We and 20,000 other people went to Silver Dollar City Friday night to enjoy the Christmas lights. It was cold but not freezing, my husband and I got to see bluegrass artist Rhonda Vincent perform while the other three went in search of food, and I got over 11,000 steps in for the day.

8. The holiday weekend went by entirely too fast. My daughter headed back to Kansas City around noon, and shortly thereafter, my husband and I drove my son and daughter in law to Springfield to catch their plane home to DC. This would have all gone smoothly, except they had to connect in Chicago. Chicago. As in the place all the national news was reporting from because they received 9 inches of snow and most, if not all, flights going in or out were canceled. Guess what? Yep, theirs, too. The thankful here? I got to take them back with me for one more night!

9. We woke up to a tiny skiff of snow and REALLY cold temperatures. The temperatures were expected but not enjoyed. The snow was not expected and not enjoyed. I was the airport shuttle driver this time, and we went to lunch and then to the airport. Now, when the flight fiasco happened the day before, my son and daughter in law changed their connection to Houston instead of Chicago to circumvent the snow, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. . . . Not snow this time, but their plane literally had a screw loose and was thus delayed for over an hour while someone got a screwdriver or something. I'm thankful that the plane was easily fixable and that they made it home safely.

10. Aaaand I'm thankful WE made it home safely from our holiday weekend! After the plane finally took off and I felt confident that my kids were actually going to make it home, I headed back to the lake house once again, loaded the car with cats and leftovers, and began the two hour drive home. You know, that two hour drive that turned into nearly three hours because as soon as we neared Springfield, it began snowing again. By this time, it was dark. The wind was blowing the snow directly into the windshield, and while it was minimally sticking to the road (mostly just to the shoulder and the center line, no biggie...). I had a death grip on the steering wheel, but most of the other drivers on the freeway seemed unperturbed by the snow and lack of visible lines. Better safe than sorry!

Maybe, MAYBE, I've got my groove back. Why did it take so long?!