Thanksgiving in Texas

11.28.2016

We spent Thanksgiving in Texas this year, just like we've done every year since Jordan and I have been married. Some of you longtime blog readers might remember that my family puts on a local turkey trot 5k and 1-mile fun run/walk on Thanksgiving morning. Each year we sell out and have almost 1,000 people come to run with their families. We do everything from the shirts to finisher medals to setting up the route, water stops, and packet pickup. It's quite a job but really cool to be a part of something like this. All the money raised supports Youth for Christ in North Texas. (And by "we" I mean mostly my parents and my aunt and uncle. The rest of us basically show up to help on Thanksgiving morning.)

Last year R was only 4.5 months old, and I carried her in the Ergo carrier most of the morning. This year she was mobile, and we weren't entirely sure how she would handle everything, but she did amazing. She woke up at 5:30 when Jordan's alarm went off and was talking up a storm and wide awake. We bundled her up and put her in the stroller, where she sat and watched everyone getting things set up. Eventually she wanted to get out, and she mostly just wandered around while we all took turns watching her. I was so excited because she is finally big enough to wear the hat I bought her on sale forever ago. That paired with overalls and a puffy coat, and I could barely handle the cuteness.
^^^ She's pretty much going to be happy as long as she has a banana.

The trot went really well this year, probably the smoothest it's gone in 6 years. I think everyone had a good time, and the weather was fantastic! After the race was over and we cleaned everything up, we headed back to my parents' house to get the food ready for our Thanksgiving meal. My aunt and uncle and their family live just down the street from my parents, and we also go over to their house to eat. My aunt is seriously one of the best decorators I know and always sets such a lovely table! I feel like it's something out of a magazine. Each of those acorns had our name written on it as our place setting and they are going to be ornaments on our Christmas tree!
Later that night, after we ate and napped and ate again, my family went back to my parents' house, where we played a really fun game. It's kind of like Pictionary meets Telephone. You start with a sentence, and then pass the paper to the next person, who draws a picture based on the sentence. They fold the paper back so only their picture is showing and pass the paper to the next person, who writes a sentence based on the picture. Then the paper is folded back so only the sentence is showing, and the next person draws a picture. And so on until it's made its way all the way around the circle and back to the person who wrote the original sentence. Each person writes a sentence, so everyone in the circle is always writing or drawing! It's always so funny to compare the original sentence to the ending sentence.

This was my paper, and I cannot stop laughing about it.

In case it's hard to read, it says "Daniel stands under a tree during a rainstorm" (Daniel is my brother, FYI)
The next sentence says, "Adam just ate from the tree of life and is judged."
Then: "Adam loved the tree, then ate the apple, then bowed before the cross."
Then: "Sin and repentance."
It ends with: "Black Christ."

I don't know why, but I was dying laughing.


I read something a few weeks ago about how hard the holidays can be because so many people dread getting together with their families. And yes, there is always going to be stress when there are so many people around, all with different opinions and different personalities. But I truly love being with my family, and so the holidays for me are just extra special time together. I had a very happy Thanksgiving and hope you did as well! Going along with what I shared in my last post, even though this year has been difficult for me personally for various reasons, I do believe there is always, always something to be thankful for.

p.s. I made a short video of behind-the-scenes of our turkey trot! It's mostly just for my family to have the memory in video format, but if you are interested, you can watch it here.
Chesson | Magnolia+Main said...

That hat is too cute! Glad that you & your family had a great Thanksgiving this year :)

Audrey Louise said...

I've played that game before! It's always hilarious to see where all the sentences/drawings end up! Haha!

That table-scape is flawless!

Beka @ Sunshine to the Square Inch said...

How fun! I'm glad you are able to get together with you family. R is cute and I'm glad she did well for the run and setup process.

Rebecca Jo said...

I'll have to check out the video - always love running videos :)
Glad you had a great time with family.
Love the pic of you & your girl... so cute. You look so happy.

Amy @ A Desert Girl said...

Cute little jacket on an adorable little R! That Pictionphone game looks soooooo fun!! Hilarious. I'm afraid it would get pretty risqué with some of my family/friends.....

Michelle said...

Oh my gosh that game!! I love games like that. I need to find people to play it with!

My family is the same way. I adore being around them, and I'm so thankful for that. I'm glad you had such a great time in Texas!

Caroline @ In Due Time said...

so much fun. Love that your family does this and the turnout you have is just amazing!

Rachel said...

Angel talks about how he someday wants to organize a big community race. It sounds like a big job to me!
That game is a favorite of mine, and my littlest sisters', whenever we have guests over she usually convinces them to play with her. I played it with Angel and some of my friends in college and I wrote the best sentence ever "For the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost." (Romans 5:5). Try drawing that!

Susannah said...

Your family sounds like just too much fun! I'm glad you had a great Thanksgiving!

Katie @ Live Half Full said...

That's so awesome you guys host the Turkey Trot- so fun to be a part of!

Kayla MKOY said...

Seriously so awesome your family does all of that on Thanksgiving to support Youth for Christ! I love it!! That game sounds amazing. I bought Caleb something similar, and we were all CRACKING UP! It's called Scrawl!

Courtney said...

So glad you had a Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Rach said...

Ah! I love telephone pictionary! We play that in my family too! Though we use multiple slips of paper instead of folding the one page. I kind of like the one page format because it's easy to see the progression unfold, ha! So glad you had a great Thanksgiving!

Leslie Lukens Martin said...

That game! I've never heard of such a thing, but it is fabulous! And seriously...Miss R in that puffy coat and stocking hat? I die...she is too cute!

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