thankful

Happy day after Thanksgiving, friends!  Wow, we had such a wonderful day, full of family, food and fun of course.  It is tradition in the Army that on Thanksgiving Day all the commanders serve meals to the soldiers who cannot make it home for the holiday.  I didn't think I'd be able to make it with Brian, the kids, and his parents because of all the cooking I'd be doing for our own dinner.  But I kind of thought, what the heck!  We put the turkey in a roaster instead of the oven, set a timer for it, prepped the rest of the dinner, and just left.  I'm so glad we did.  It was fun seeing Brian serving his soldiers.
And it brought back memories of visiting Brian while he was training on Thanksgiving and having his commander serve us at Ft. Benning.

He looks pretty sharp, right?

We got back with plenty of time to make our own dinner.  My mother-in-law did a lot of the cooking, so it was a team effort!  I got out all the nice china and silver that's been handed down from both sides of the family, and set the table, which is my favorite holiday chore.

 We had another soldier over that couldn't make it home to his family, so it felt like an even bigger family holiday.  I always worry when we do have a stray soldier over he/she will be disappointed with what I make- that it won't match up to his own family's meal.  But this soldier seemed very happy with the meal, and gladly took a big bag of leftovers home with him!

This morning we all moved a bit slowly, slept in a little, and just relaxed.  Brian and I made homemade donuts to round out the overeating that is the Thanksgiving holiday.  They were delicious.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!  Today we're decking the halls for Christmas, listening to Christmas music, and thinking about going out for a matinee to see the new Disney movie.  Not a bad way to cap off a great day.  One day I'll get out my big girl camera again, and take real pictures, I promise.

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