Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has passed, and it was an exciting week. James and I attended numerous festivities this year. Our first Thanksgiving occurred the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and it was with the "Taylor" family. It was nice to see that side of my family because I usually only see them on Thanksgiving or Christmas! All of my siblings, except for Matt, was there. When we arrived I quickly surveyed and realized that we had four new babies this year!! Since I adore babies, I was pretty excited to get to hold them. However, the discussion that followed each baby holding was not as exciting. It seemed that everyone would say to me, "Holly, it seems like you love babies, and everyone has one except for you. When are you going to have one?". The response was always, "After college and if it happens before that, then it is God's timing and not ours". Despite that conversation happening numerous times, it was still nice to be able to be with all of my family. This was also the first time that James met all of the "Taylor" family. Everyone was friendly and accepting. The niceness could probably have been attributed to the fact that James is probably at least five inches taller than anyone else on that side!! We both had a great start to Thanksgiving!

James decided that he did want to spend part of Thanksgiving with my "Johnson" family. Since my great-grandma wasn't there, and my other grandma wasn't there because she was out of the country, I didn't feel comfortable not going. I told James that he didn't have to go to mine because he doesn't get a lot of time with his brother, but he decided that he did want to go to mine. I think a big factor was that he didn't want me to drive to Albion by myself because the weather was awful.

The second Thanksgiving happened on my "Johnson" side. We travelled on Wednesday night and spent the night at my grandpa's house. We really wanted to give grandpa some company because grandma is currently in Israel. James and I were also able to enjoy dinner with my friend Stephanie and her son, Kurt. We had a lot of fun because we haven't really had a chance to talk since our wedding!! Thanksgiving "lunch" went very well with the family. The food was delicious, and everyone was in a good mood. I was able to play with my little twin cousins, who are adorable!! James and I left a little later than expected to get to the Cole's because he was enjoying the football game.

This year was the first year without my great-grandma Johnson, and while I was constantly thinking of her, I was not sad. At times I would even look around to see her. I was able to imagine her sitting in a chair watching all of us and smiling, which is what she always did. I was happy that even though grandma was not with us, the family still gathered and enjoyed each other.

We celebrated a Thanksgiving/Christmas at Jim's "Cole" family. Since his grandparents are going to be down South during Christmas, they wanted to celebrate it when they were still here. Since James and I were running a little late, we arrived at the end of the gift exchange. However, we still had a great time talking with family. Susan, James, Kristen, and I spent the night at the "Londt Farm". The house was a little cold, and I think everyone was a little creeped out to spend the night there.

The "Londt" family Thanksgiving happened on Friday evening, and we had chili and chili dogs, which were delicious. Everyone was very friendly, and the talk was good. When James and I attempted to leave, the Jeep wouldn't start! When we did get it started, it would die each time James took his foot off the brake. Thankfully, Susan was there to assist us! We had to ultimately decide to leave the Jeep until Sunday.

The major up to this holiday was being able to see Joe and his family. Since we rarely are able to see them, we value any time with them. They arrived on Tuesday, and we had a lot of fun being able to talk to them and play with the kids! It seems like every time we see them, the kids have doubled in size!! Since they were not going to be here for Christmas, we did a gift exchange. Heidi made James and I a scrapbook of our wedding!!! I have always wanted to scrapbook, but I've never had anyone sit down and "instruct" me. When I start a new "skill", I feel like I need someone there to teach me and show me how to do it properly. The one that Heidi made was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!

To conclude this post, it would only be appropriate for me to discuss what I am thankful for. James and I are most thankful that God brought us together and has provided for us. Despite everything we are facing, we are still appreciative to God for always being there for us. We are also grateful for being able to be with our family. There is so much that we are grateful for.