So Much to be Thankful For

Thanksgiving at my sister & brother-in-law's (Kathy & Bob's) home yesterday was such a great time. This is the first time in a while where everyone in our family was together for Thanksgiving dinner.

We are far from the perfect family, and we've had our spits and spats. But here we all are, after years and years, still together and still enjoying each other's company. We bug each other, and we forgive each other. We do special things for each other, and when you need help, oh man, you can count on this family to stick together and help each other. Holidays can be pretty stressful, everyone knows that, but my family has grown up together and we truly enjoy being together at holidays. I mean, we truly enjoy it, we look forward to it. In a way, it is kind of amazing. How many families with at least 5 kids all get along so well? Mom and Dad have been married more than 50 years, all of us kids are doing well and have great kids of our own & good marriages, with the exception of my sister, JoAnne... but only because her husband, Scott, died from cancer shortly after their first wedding anniversary, more than twenty years ago. He was a great guy, and we all still miss him. We've been missing him longer than we ever knew him. He would have always fit right into this family. Joie never remarried. Sometimes, once you find your soulmate and lose him, that's that. But Joie's doing well and has a good job and a super nice house, with lots of pets.

Like I said, as a family, we're not perfect, but we're damn good. And now for pictures...















After Thanksgiving dinner, and after a bit of a breather, everyone came over to our house to celebrate Joycie's 17th birthday. We had the family birthday party on Thanksgiving because we were all together, though Joycie's birthday is actually on Saturday.



Doesn't Joycie's hair look great?!!! She got it cut and colored on Wednesday evening, and it turned out gorgeous. She wanted her hair to be as dark as her eyebrows. It so fits her. My beautiful, beautiful girl.

Another thing for which I'm thankful is the beautiful snow we got this week. It's now wintertime, and it's beautiful. Kev got up early this morning to go hunting. He should be coming out of the woods soon, and I know he'll be in a good mood. This is hunting weather! My man loves to be in the woods. And I love that about him.