Thanksgiving 09

Thanksgiving week has been a whirlwind of activity for us. We were so blessed to be able to celebrate with family and friends. Stan and Kayti hosted all 44 of us on Thanksgiving Day. What a crazy, fun, delicious time that was! Aunt Jen and Uncle Danny made the trek down from NC along with Jamie, Ambre, Christopher, Gabby, Haley, Annabelle, James and Cameron (the matched set). My girls were thrilled to pieces at having their little (and big) cousins here and all to themselves.

On Friday, 22 of us ventured out into the maddening crowds at the outlet mall in St Augustine. Have you ever tried to keep track of a crowd that size on Black Friday?! Our mall stamina was tested to the limit. Thankfully Theresa had the great idea of taking the group to Cracker Barrel for supper. It was the perfect end to a crazy day.

Saturday we gathered again, this time at my our house to celebrate Papaws 80th Birthday. We surprised him with a wonderful family tree cake made by Christopher and Ambre who had a little help from Mimi and myself. It was a group effort. Kayti dragged us all out into the yard to take family pictures. Meanwhile a "roll in the grass down the hill" party broke out among the younger set. We dined on delicious Country Style Spaghetti (an old family recipe made by Aunt Jen) salad and garlic bread. Afterwards we all sat around the TV and cried while watching a beautiful slideshow of Papaw with all of his kiddos through the years.

What a wonderful way to spend a weekend. I'm exhausted, but given the chance to do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat.