Thanksgiving

We had our first Thanksgiving without family in town.  Kind of a bittersweet thing.  We may not have family, but we have very dear friends.

We started our day with a new family tradition.  Or at least when we are in town.  In the past we have done some of the 5K runs on Thanksgiving morning, but they are not close by.  This year, in our very neighborhood, a 5K was started to raise money for ALS.  It was great.  We left our house about 15 minutes before it started, got to the starting line, stretched, saw our little community come together for a good cause, and ran!  We always love starting this particular day with a little exercise.  At the finish line was a little bit of fruit and a playground, good enough for all of us!  John was sweet and pushed Chase in her jogging stroller, allowing me to run freely.  It was a chilly morning.

As soon as we finished that, we moved on to our next activity!  We drove a few minutes to a local park where every year our church holds a turkey bowl.  John always loves this.  This year our numbers were down, but some sweet girls were there that love Chase and they played with her the whole time and I got to chat with some friends.  A lot of fun was had by all.  It started to warm up a bit, but the sun was shining bright.  I am so thankful to live in a location where we can be outdoors year round.  It is such a blessing and I enjoy it so.

We ran home, showered and scooted out the door to dinner.  Our dear friends the Fitzpatricks invited us to their big family dinner.  We had a great time there.  It was fun hanging out with them and I saw Chase get enveloped by their whole clan.  It was really sweet to watch.  Our friends' cousins really took to her and by the end of the night, Chase was watching Polar Express from one of our friend's aunt's laps with another kid.  This was her second time watching a "real" movie.  She did well and hung with all of the big kids.  Dinner was of course delish.  Who's ever had a bad Thanksgiving dinner?  Not me!!  One treat that came from gathering here was avocados!  They have 2 trees and I took home a bag that must have weighed 7 pounds or so.  I'm still waiting for them to ripen....I've given quite a few away.  That's always fun.  Even living in Southern CA, they are like gold to me!!

When we got home and after Chase went to bed, John and I hung out by the fire, eventually ate a little dinner, watched some tv and talked.  We are using our fireplace a lot these nights as it has been cold, to us.  We love it.

I have so much to be thankful for.  I could go on and on.....but mostly I feel so very blessed and fortunate for the life I am living.  What a gift it is!