Traditions are important to families.  My family has been tightly holding onto the Hauer family traditions since my grandparents have both passed.  It’s tough, but we get as many family members together as we can on Thanksgiving to have a big meal and watch a little football.  This year was no different, except for the preparation part of the meal.

We started a new tradition this year on Thanksgiving morning.  My mother needed assistance cooking a turkey, so I figured this vegetarian needed to add some comedic value to the affair.  Justin & I purchased 3 bottles of champagne and 2 large jobs of orange/mango juice.  We got up and started preparing food.  We turned the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on and poured ourselves some Mimosas.  We opened our front door and had all the neighborhood gang stop over as well as my brother & Jen.  We were lucky enough to be able to Skype with Jerry this morning as well.

New traditions are important because they allow you to include things you love into your yearly routine.  I had such a good morning watching the parade, cooking and catching up with family & friends.  Who wants to wait and celebrate Thanksgiving at dinner time?

So after a morning of searching for the giblet, the turkey was finally cooked.  Thanks to Jen for a huge helping hand (and forearm).  We headed to my parents house with a 12 lb turkey, 2 crockpots full of cheesy potatoes, scalloped corn and 2 pies.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with a few of my uncles and some of my cousins and my immediate family.  This was my first meat-free Turkey Day.  I ate so many vegetables coated in butter, some stuffing and of course a slice of my cousin’s birthday cake.  

After dinner, the snow started falling and it was the perfect lead in to my favorite Thanksgiving tradition.  Since I was in high school, I have always watched White Christmas on Thanksgiving night after dinner and for the longest time, I watched it by myself.  The first year that Justin & I were dating, we left right after dinner and headed up north to the Larsmont Cottages to spend Thanksgiving weekend with just the two of us.  I filled him in on my tradition and it turns out that he had never seen the movie.  We watched it together that night with Lake Superior right outside our window and a fire in the fireplace.  It has been a really fun way to get into the holiday spirit and relax after a big meal.  
Tonight, the movie is playing as I reflect on another awesome holiday with my family.  I am a very lucky girl with a really fun family.  It was a little weird to not see any of Justin’s family today.  It was his first ever Thanksgiving without his parents.  They are having their own weekend away relaxing and I am super happy for them.  

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  Here are the things I’m thankful for this evening:
  • An awesome family that enjoys each others company but can tell it like it is when necessary to help challenge one another to be better people.
  • The best husband in the world, who puts up with my family and thoroughly seems to enjoy himself in their presence.
  • My other family that has taken me in as one of their own – they were very missed in our lives this Thanksgiving.
  • Our friends – near & far – for always being around to have a good time and be supportive of our endeavors and wanting to be a part of our lives.
  • Technology – being able to see a friend today that is halfway across the world and away from his friends & family serving our country.
  • My dogs – just because they are awesome.
  • Our home – even though there are things I am jumping at the chance to change, it is nice to have a place to come home to each day and feel completely comfortable.
There are a million other things, but I’ll leave it at that.  Plus, my favorite part of the movie is coming up.  Happy Thanksgiving to you & your families.  Hope you enjoyed some good food today 🙂