Thanksgiving was super fun this year. We went to PA to be with Alex and Emilie. Emilie made an incredible dinner, taking traditional dishes and putting a spin on them. It was a lot of time in the car, but it was well worth it for the yummy dinner and family time. Grant did well in the car going both ways, mostly because we drove at night and let him sleep. He loved playing with Barley and Tiller and even took to letting Tiller eat right out of his hand. We took a fun trip to Valley Forge on Friday and I was able to get a few cute photos of my favorite Mac boys. I love these:

And one with my favorite Mac Girls too!

My friend Erin did a great blog listing all of the things she was thankful for on Thanksgiving and I thought it was great. I should have done the same thing, but we are well into the Christmas season now, so instead I thought I would put out another plug. Jen and Brian have "adopted a family" for Christmas. This is pretty much as it sounds, through an agency they have found a family in need and bought this family gifts that they both need and want. I think this is a super great thing to do an encourage everyone to do something similar. I remember being about 11 when our family was "adopted" for Christmas. A bag appeared on our porch on Christmas Eve and their was a gift for each of us, simply labeled mom, dad, girl, boy. I don't remember what my mother or brother got, but my dad got a really nice heavy shirt and I got a board game. It wasn't much but that was a really tough year and we didn't have much of anything (except Turkey-we got LOTS of turkeys that year in food baskets). Of course, my parents had found ways to get my brother and I a few things, but I'm sure those gifts were some of the only they received that holiday. You may not think that giving the toys for tot gift or the giving tree gift at the mall makes much of a difference, but I'm here to tell you that it definitely does. So instead of telling you what I'm thankful for today, I'll tell you what I know my mom was thankful for when she had an 11 year old who wasn't getting Christmas, and that is the kindness of those more fortunate and the strangers that "adopted" my family. I know the economy is in the crapper and we're all holding onto our pennies a bit tighter these days, but try to give what you can and help when you can. I'm thankful for Jen and Brian for reminding me of that Christmas so I can be extra thankful for all the blessings I have today and so I can help pass these lessons again to Grant! And as always, when I think of those super tough years, I'm extra thankful for my mom and the amazing was she managed to keep us all together and all safe. Now that I'm a mom, I can make boo-boos better, but try as I will, I'll never understand how she got us through-that is real mommy power!