But First, Thanksgiving.

The week before Thanksgiving, James and I went to Cacky's to help her make dressing. We had fun! It is a CHORE to make, though! It was nice to have three people working on it!

Will loves holding the babies in my room at preschool.

We had Turkey Day festivities at school...

Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, Mom and I went to Jacksonville to do some shopping and we spent the night at the condo. We drove through St. Augustine on our way in and saw the lights. Beautiful! We took a trip to the Alligator Farm on Tuesday. We left the condo to head home at 4:15pm and didn't arrive home until after 11:30. WHOA. Standstill traffic was TERR-I-BLE.

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday with Grandmama, Granddaddy, Kelly, and David at lunch and Cacky, Anna, Lance, Merritt, Kayla, John, Nana, and Jake at supper. It was ALL delicious. Yum. Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday, but I've learned to love the food more than I used to!

{That picture of my baby above makes my heart drop! Ahhhh! I promise that we are working hard on gun safety discussions at home. We have a friend who lost her nephew in a tragic accident last year and I talk to the boys OFTEN about gun safety.}

{That is Merritt with Will's toy. He lost his mind about this. He loves her, but he wants her to have her own things...not his! LOL!}

And then on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today...Christmas came! I decorated the house and George and Clark (our elf and reindeer) returned! It was a fun time!

We had a great holiday and I was sad to see it go on Sunday night. :( But just a few weeks and it's CHRISTMAS!!! Yippee!!!

Gobble Gobble!

We had a fairly low-key Thanksgiving celebration this year. We gathered at Mama's house with just us + Eddie's mom, dad, and sister. We were a small {but loud!} crowd, but we had a good time.

Mom ordered a turkey breast and made whatever Eddie requested {ha!} - peas, butter beans, brown rice, cream corn...am I forgetting something? Eddie's family brought rutabagas, sweet tea, chocolate pie, pumpkin pie, and rolls. I made macaroni and cheese, cranberry sauce, green bean bundles, and pretzel pie. {Recipes below!}

We enjoyed one another so much that we gathered for round two on Thursday evening! {No Black Friday shopping for Eddie and me...we leave that to his mama and sister.}

We had a great Thanksgiving. We have MUCH to be thankful for.

Recipes!

First of all, baked macaroni and cheese is better than ANY macaroni and cheese you've ever eaten. It does take a little hands-on time, but it is SO worth it. I have such a problem when I make it. (It can be made ahead and baked just before it's time to eat.) The cranberry sauce is complements of Pioneer Woman and is delicious. Green bean bundles are EASY and Eddie loves them. The pretzel pie was a new no-nut faux-pecan pie and it was SO GOOD. Seriously. If you're a pecan pie fan, TRY THIS. It's a new favorite.

Macaroni and Cheese

* 3 tbsp. margarine

* 1/4 cup unsifted flour

* 1 tsp. salt

* 1/2 tsp. dry mustard

* 1/4 tsp. pepper

* 2 1/2 cups milk

* 2 cups grated cheese

* elbow macaroni (I usually use a 1 lb. box)

1. In a 2 qt. saucepan, melt margarine over low heat.

2. Stir in flour, salt, mustard, and pepper until smooth. Remove from heat.

3. Gradually stir in milk until smooth.

4. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat about 10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat.

5. Add cheese and stir until melted.

6. While preparing the sauce, cook macaroni, drain, and pour into greased 2 qt. casserole dish.

7. Pour cheese mixture over macaroni; mix well.

8. Bake in 375* oven 25 minutes.

Cranberry Sauce

Click HERE for recipe.

Green Bean Bundles

* 2 or 3 cans whole green beans {I used fresh green beans at Thanksgiving and they worked fine!}

* 1 package bacon

* 1 stick butter

* 1 cup brown sugar

* 1 tsp garlic salt

1. Wrap handfuls of green beans in slices of bacon.

2. Melt butter and stir in brown sugar and garlic salt.

3. Pour butter mixture over bundles.

4. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. Broil 3-5 minutes at the end.

Pretzel Pie

Click HERE for the recipe. Y'all. Make this soon.

The main reason I made cranberry sauce {aside from the fact that Mr. Tommy requested it} was this:

Oh yes. That IS a leftover turkey, cranberry sauce, and brie on grilled sourdough sandwich. Yum.

We had a fun Thanksgiving day! Wish I'd remembered to take pictures once the rest of the family arrived but I was too worried about eating!

Potato Soup...

Since we're in the soup mood, we've gone with potato tonight. I started it around 4, using Mama's recipe this time. It wasn't so much a recipe since a lot of the instructions (over the phone...throughout several phone calls) were phrases like "Umm...I normally just add a can of chicken broth and a cup of milk..." and the next call "Did I say a can of chicken broth? Better just go with half a can. And I'd put like two or so cups of milk..." and then "Did I tell you to cook it on medium-low? I couldn't remember..." and my favorite "Sometimes it turns out ok, sometimes it doesn't. Maybe I should write down the recipe one of these days." It's looking and tasting good, despite the directions!

We enjoyed our weekend at home. This is the first weekend in the past several that we've been home and the last one before New Year's Eve! It's nice to be back and forth, in and out of town seeing everyone but we needed some time to sit still for a change!

Next weekend we're off to Athens for Mary Beth's wedding. I can't wait...I know it's going to be beautiful. There'll be plenty of pictures to post from that one. I'm excited for them.

No new pictures of the house. Maybe there will be some soon since Eddie is, as I type, out in the FREEZING garage painting the last of the cabinet doors so that they can hang tomorrow.

5 more days until Thanksgiving Break! I REALLY need it!

PS - I'm a slacker...

Thanksgiving #13: I'm thankful for Internet shopping. I've been doing a LOT of my Christmas shopping online in the past few years. I'm excited to get started SOON. I've been making a list of what I'm going to get you all...so if you have any input, pipe up now! (And Anna, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I doubt there'll be any Shutterfly books this year. I asked Carrie if I could get a CD of my pictures so that I could Shutterfly them and it seems that they cost $1200. If I bought one, NO ONE would get a Christmas gift. I just figured I didn't need to be that selfish!)

Thanksgiving #14: I'm thankful that the church we visited today (FUMC WR) had such a FRIENDLY congregation! We had so many people helping us to find a seat, shaking our hands because they didn't recognize us, inviting us to Sunday School, etc. It was wonderful! We're going to continue to visit around but I was overly impressed by the effort that they made to make us feel welcome. If only all churches were like that (right, Shelley???)!

Thanksgiving #15: I DID post one yesterday...I'm thankful for SATURDAYS!

Thanksgiving #16: I'm thankful for breaks from school...I've obviously already mentioned this one. I am worn out, stressed out, and tired of teenagers. I can't begin to tell you how ready I am to get out for Thanksgiving and then for Christmas break. I'm not sure why, but I'm not loving school right now. I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about and praying about what I need to do. I know Shelley can relate to this. Don't worry about me, I don't mean for this to be a Debbie-Downer type post, but I'm praying for guidance right now as to what I'm supposed to be doing...because I'm not necessarily sure that I'll be in this teaching thing for 27 more years.

A Month of Thanksgiving...

I saw this on someone else's blog and thought that it was a great idea! They are spending the month of November listing 30 things (one a day) that they are thankful for. I think that I speak for most of us when I say that we spend a lot more time griping and complaining than we do thinking about the wonderful things in our lives. Giving thanks is certainly something that I could spend a lot more time doing. So, in an effort to catch up...the first 5.

1. Salvation - I am so thankful that my God sent His Son to save me. Something that I will never begin to comprehend. I'm so thankful that I was raised by Christian parents who instilled in me a love of Christ and a personal relationship with Him. I am not worthy. Thank you, Jesus! (Remember that day, Anna? Dad? Laura?)

2. Eddie - I have had the most fun being married to him. While it's been hectic and we haven't slept much since...hmm...May?...it's been a great experience. We have fun together and we enjoy each other's company. How great is it that I got to marry my best friend? I can't wait for all the years to come!

3. My family - How blessed I am! I have the best parents and siblings a girl could ask for. My extended family is also fabulous! I am so lucky! I see kids at school all the time who have terrible home-lives and sorry parents and I am so thankful for the ones that I have!

4. My friends - I also have the best friends! We have a great time no matter where we are or what we're doing. Moving has been tough...I haven't made good friends outside of school because we've been so busy. BUT my friends from home have been wonderful about calling and emailing and keeping me in the loop. The best!

5. My job - This is a tough one for me. I whine and complain about my job all the time. It's hard to go to work where the people you work with seem ungrateful. However, there are moments in teaching and kids that I get to come into contact with, that make it worthwhile. I don't know that it's something that I'll do forever, but I'm thankful that I have a job and I pray that I'm making a difference in SOMEONE's life!

What are you thankful for?