Thanksgiving Instagrams

I didn't take very many pictures during Thanksgiving this year, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't wonderful! Uncle Brad and I especially enjoyed spending time with our cool niece and nephew. :)

 

Rachel and Clinton playing in the leaves after Thanksgiving Dinner

Aunt Mindy w/ the kids while Rachel displays her "bouquet" of red leaves.

Uncle Brad is the Tickle Monster!

We don't have very many opportunities to visit with my family, but we always enjoy spending time with them when we can, especially the youngest members. Being the favorite (ahem) aunt and uncle is hard work, but somebody's gotta do it!

NYC Day 4 - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in New York City is the best Thanksgiving ever, ever! And Day 4 was (in my opinion) the pinnacle of our week there. I had been waiting for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade all year long, and it was finally here!

Random picture we took in front of a pretty wall in Rockefeller Center

 

Even though we were exhausted from our late Broadway show the night before, Brad and I woke up at 5:00 in the morning (brrr!!) and made our way to Midtown in an effort to secure a great spot along the parade route. And boy did we ever! Somehow we stumbled upon the best location in the whole city! We sat on top of some scaffolding outside of the back of Carnegie Hall on the corner of 57th and 7th. It was perfect because the scaffolding allowed us to sit down instead of stand the whole time; I was raised high enough to see above the people in front of me; and we were only a couple blocks down from Central Park, so we got to watch the parade turn the corner. It was always a surprise to see what was next, but we still had a couple blocks' worth of viewing/picture/enjoyment time before they passed us! Like I said, it was the best location in the city.

 

When we procured our spot, with a boost from my hubs to make it on top of the platform, it was still dark and relatively vacant. But as the sun rose as the parade time drew nearer, the people crowded in. Every hour that went by, I was more grateful for our pristine spot that was reasonably excluded from the masses.

 

 

Kicking off the parade was Macy's Great American Marching Band. With the sound of those drums, my heart about beat right out of my chest with excitement!

 

 

I knew the balloons would be big from watching them on tv all those years. And I knew they would be even larger than I expected after witnessing some being inflated the day before. But I had no idea how ginormous they would really be floating down the street overhead, between the skyscrapers. As they approached where we were, I literally could not fit them in their entirety within my camera view! It was awesome.

 

By the way, little fun fact, NYC has prepared for hosting this annual parade by installing rotating stoplight posts that pivot on the spot allowing them to stand parallel to the sidewalks of the secondary streets, thereby removing them from interfering with the parade route. I never thought about how all of those strings attached to the balloons that people walk down the road would get caught on street lights. Very clever, NYC.

 

As soon as I spotted Snoopy being inflated the day before, I knew that  he was the one that I wanted a picture taken with. We anxiously awaited his arrival the whole parade, and when we saw him soar around the corner, I made sure that Brad had a good shot of us with him. Success.

 

Also, here you can see our feet dangling over the ledge of our little wall with all of the confetti decorating the ground. (And if you're wondering, yes, Brad frequently reminded me to move my legs to keep the circulation going while they hung there. And if you're also wondering whether or not that worked / I adhered his advice, no. When I finally got down for the first time in 5 1/2 hours, I about collapsed, and my legs tingled the whole shaky way back to the subway.)

 

The only person I anticipated coming my way more than Snoopy was Santa himself. I had been waiting for months to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus and their eight reindeer fly by me. With the sound of his "Ho, Ho, Ho!!" ringing in my ears, I couldn't do anything but cry. And smile like an idiot. It was so surreal, and I was so overcome with happiness. Then, once he moved on to other people down the street, marking  the official end of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (and the beginning of Christmas Season), I cried anew because it was all over! But I didn't have time to wallow in my misery. Brad kissed my face and reminded me that we had a massive crowd to beat to the subway! (On wobbly legs.) But I was absolutely looking forward to going back to our hotel and crashing for a couple of hours, so I tried to keep pace.

 

The Parade was 100% worth travelling for Thanksgiving. 100%. But it was still a little sad to be away from our families as we celebrated the holiday with a special dinner. We didn't just want to have random diner food for our big meal, so we took part in a Thanksgiving Dinner Cruise. It wasn't our traditional menu, and you could tell they were accommodating a variety of cultures, but it was still special and fun.

 

We had the perfect backdrop to our holiday meal as we floated underneath the Brooklyn Bridge and watched the sun set over the New York City skyline. I think this nearly made up for the lack of green bean casserole.

 

Between the main and dessert courses, Brad and I headed to the exterior of the boat. It was perfect timing, because we had reached our destination. As we approached and then floated stationary near the Statue of Liberty for a while, the majority of the dinner guests came to the top and enjoyed the magnificent scenery while a variety of patriotic music was playing in the background. It was romantic, and sweet, and moving, and patriotic, and a moment I'll never forget. We had much to give thanks for, indeed.

 

Following our dinner cruise, we went to Rockefeller Center. It was absolutely beautiful. I was super disappointed that the giant Christmas tree wasn't lit up yet, but they don't do that until the week following Thanksgiving. (Boo.) It was still cool to see its enormity there with scaffolding assembled to provide the capabilities of decorating. Bradley and I had every intention of ice skating in Rockefeller Center's iconic rink, but when it finally came our turn in line, we realized they were asking over $30 per person to skate. Yikes! It is the one and only event throughout the whole week that we removed from our schedule strictly because of the high price. We're not that cheap, but we're too cheap to spend over $60 to ice skate! Regardless, it was completely awesome to be there and see it in real life. We actually purchased a puzzle of this scene for our Christmas puzzle of the year.

 

So instead of ice skating, we journeyed to the Top of the Rock(effeler), which is the second largest building in the city. We chose to do this one in the evening, so we could capture the Empire State Building in our night view of the city. It was breathtaking.

 

That was technically the final event on our schedule for Thanksgiving Day, but the hubs and I were still all jazzed from the events of the day (and our lengthy afternoon nap), so we headed back to our favorite place in the city, Times Square. We seriously love that place. We climbed to the top of the Red Steps and marvelled at the best view of Times Square possible.

 

Once we had soaked in enough of the buzz just looking at Times Square gives you, we just walked around and checked out all of the nearby stores, especially the chocolate ones!  We couldn't help but go on into the M&M store. The walls were lined with the chocolate candies in dispensers as high as the ceiling. Talk about Mmmm...  

So that was our Thanksgiving of 2011. I still can't believe I got to be at the Macy's Parade and see Santa in person! Or gaze upon the Statue of Liberty amidst our holiday dinner. What an amazing experience it all was. (I'm not sure I'll ever go without traditional food again, though. Jussayin.)

 

Here are recaps of our other days in the city: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 5, and Day 6.

 

[Entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Album]

[Entire NYC Day 4 Photo Album]

Good luck, turkeys!

You know how I see a bunch of turkeys in the yard of a house I pass on my daily commute? And I enjoy seeing them a whole lot? Well, thanks to the month of November, I have started thinking of them in a whole new light. Turkey day Thanksgiving is drawing closer and closer. And in nearly every respect, I'm super pumped about this (especially for one specific activity, in particular). However, as next Thursday approaches, I'm also growing a sense of dread for my little friends.

They're all great big now; you can't tell the babies from the grownups. I can't even consider what that size may mean to some hungry families. Will my friends make it through the month? Will they last past this week? All this time, I ignorantly drove by them, naively enjoying the treat that they were in my life. How did I not automatically assume that they'd most likely eventually become a treat for somebody holiday table spread?? Poor, poor, turkey friends...

However, that doesn't change my mind about my personal annual menu. I still plan on enjoying some delicious turkey in my Thanksgiving meal. I just hope it isn't one that I personally know...

Big Plans in the Big Apple

Guess what Brad and I are doing this Thanksgiving. Give up?

We're going to New York City! Yahoo! Yea! Yippee!! Holllllaaaaaa!!! We're going to spend the whole week in The Big Apple, and the best part is, we are going to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade live! Ohmygoodness. I honestly couldn't possibly be any more excited ever, ever. Eeeee!!!!

And while the Parade will obviously be the highlight of our trip, there's another event edging in at a very close second: We're going to see Wicked on Broadway. Holy cow, I absolutely cannot wait!

We have big plans for the week that we're there. We've spent months pouring over every available activity in NYC, including landmarks, tours, museums, shopping areas, etc. and grouping them by location. Our poor visitor's map has already been well worn in.

We've decided that this will definitely be more of a "trip" than a "vacation," since there will be no relaxing for us in the Big Apple. We plan to wake up early each morning (especially Thanksgiving morning), eat a quick breakfast at the hotel, then head out for the entire day, only to come back late in the evening to crash for the night. Our itinerary is jam packed, and it's just how we like it. (Don't judge me for my color-coded excel spreadsheet. The level of my nerdiness is directly proportional to my level of excitment. Just consider yourself lucky that you don't have to view all the other tabs in that workbook. Ha.)

(Click to enlarge)

New York City has so many iconic locations. The Statue of Liberty. The World Trade Center memorial. Central Park. The Empire State Building. Times Square. So many! I mentioned to my mom that I want to have breakfast at Tiffany's in honor of the classic film, even if it's just a donut by the entrance, and she surprised me by sending me this Tiffany and Co. coffee mug to prepare. I already feel so ritzy just from that pretty packaging alone!

Oh my goodness! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I know that we're going over Thanksgiving, but I have to admit, I'm mostly excited about Christmas in New  York.  Can you believe we'll actually visit the real Macy's on 34th street? We'll get to see the Plaza like in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. We'll get to shop at FAO Schwarz and walk past the men dressed as toy soldiers at the door on our way to stepping on the Big piano. We'll get to ice skate at Rockefeller Center, all bundled up in our winter scarves. And we'll witness, live, Santa Clause starting off the Christmas Season at the end of the Parade!  This trip is a Christmas fanatic's dream come true!

Seriously, I have to calm myself down when I start thinking about it. Brad and I haven't been on a week-long vacation since our honeymoon six years ago, and neither of us have ever been to New York City. I can't wait to make all those wonderful memories!

Any recommendations, if you've visited the Big Apple in the past? Or if you love a movie scene or TV location in the city that's a must-see?

image sources: here, here, and here

Full Bellies and Hearts

Is there anything better than enjoying delicious food and wonderful company at the same time? I don't think so. That's why Thanksgiving is the greatest ever. Add Christmas decorations and music to the setting, (which I unashamedly did this year and have zero regrets) and it's some of the best times ever spent.

We started off the holiday in Illinois with my side of the family. We gathered at my older brother's house for a feast on Thanksgiving day, just like last year. Jennie, is an incredible cook (she even made an apple pie completely from scratch!) and supervisor in the kitchen, so the dinner was unsurprisingly amazing. We had such a great time sitting around the table and reminiscing about old times and poking fun at each other. (YAMS!) It's not very often at all that all of us kids get together, but we quickly made up for lost time, while Dad pretended not to hear some of our confessions stories from childhood. Loved it.

After such a huge meal, everybody vegged out. We all lounged around the house, watched football and possibly even dozed off here and there. Totally works for me.

Making our lazy snuggling even better was the fresh blanket of snow falling outside! It was so cozy! (It was getting dark out, so the picture is hard to see, but when I used the flash you could only see the nearest snowflakes very brightly.)

And, just because I can't get enough of him, look at my adorable nephew in his old man pj's! I love him and those bright blue eyes of his! (Rachel was running around too much to snap a picture of. Sad day. Guess that's what happens when you're three. Busy, busy, busy.)

I declined the offer to join Jennie for some Black Friday shopping (she's loony), and Brad and I headed back to Nashville to prepare for our second Thanksgiving of 2010. Mehaffey Thanksgiving is always conveniently celebrated the Saturday following the holiday, and we were hosting the family for the second year in a row. I couldn't wait to utilize our new spacious house and see what our kitchen was really made of!

Of course, the girls slaved away in the kitchen all morning while the boys played video games. What's new? Brad finally adventured out from the man cave when it was time to carve the turkey.

I believe the kitchen worked just fine, as the meal was wonderful, if I do say so myself. We had so much food that we had to pull out our TV trays and set them around us as "overflow tables" (a technique I learned from my mom) to hold some dishes. (PS. Don't judge us for the table being elongated by a card table. We're still young.)

Even though the dinner was interrupted by some Thanksgiving visitors, it was a pleasant meal around the table(s) with people we love dearly. Doesn't get much better.

Well, maybe a little... That evening, we took a hiatus from our very important Christmas puzzle assembly to play a board game that my brother, Richard, had given me just days before. Quelf is the most random game we have ever played; possibly in the world. The whole family made fools of ourselves as we acted out ridiculous scenes (ice skating around the room with no top lip), had drawing contests with our opposite hands (of a rhino arm wrestling an elephant), recited silly sayings as events occurred ("serves your right, Captain Poopy Pants"), tried to get people to participate in strange scenarios (evacuating the room because of a manure filled tornado or standing to salute you as you "toot" the national anthem through your nose), and barked viciously at any of the four dogs when they came close to the game board (they were so confused and joined in with the barking). Honestly, as crazy as all that sounds, it was even worse in person. Much worse, actually. You should have seen us. I haven't laughed (until I cried) that hard in ages.

Even though it was a four-day weekend, it was so jam packed full of food, family, and fun blessings that it simply flew by. I'm so grateful that we both have such awesome families to spend the holidays with. God sure does spoil me rotton. Thanksgiving is such a fitting name, since there is so much to give thanks for.

Got Eggnog?

To kick off the holiday season, Brad decided to make some eggnog from scratch over Thanksgiving.

Throughout the course of the extended weekend, he made multiple batches. He made some with Bourbon Whiskey and some with Rum and even more with add-your-own-desired-amount-of-alcohol-to-your-personal-glass (aka, virgin eggnog for me). He made some with more cinnamon and some with more nutmeg. Some with more foam and some with more milk.

Pretty much, he was obsessed with whipping up eggnog. (Which really is made with eggs {both the whites and yolks, but separately}, so the name makes even more sense, now! But, I'm not sure where the nog comes in... maybe that's slang for booze?) However, his new experiment was fine with the family(s). We all got to drink a steady flow of the traditional holiday beverage all weekend long.

I couldn't resist getting a Got Milk? ad from Brad and TJ (my older brother) with that thick froth on their lip. Needless to say, I immediately regretted it. Mustaches are so nasty. Ew.

Turkey Day

You might not believe it, but I seriously couldn't make something like this up. Thankfully, I have the pictures to prove it.

While my family was gathered around the table eating Thanksgiving dinner, three turkeys gobbled right through our back yard!

Literally, we were all chompin on some delicious turkey, when Jeremy said "Umm..." and pointed a shocked finger out the back window. I couldn't believe the irony! As far as I know, (live) turkeys have never hung out at our house. They had to choose Thanksgiving day (well, the Saturday after for the Mehaffey family) to make their visit.

The group of them dashed pretty quickly back into the field behind our yard. The fam all joked about how they must have been upset that we were munchin on their brother so they made a run for it, "Every Turkey For Himself!" style.

Where's Tom, been? Haven't seen him all day. Maybe he's in here... Oh, good, he is! But, waitaminute! What is this?! What in the world have they done to him? They're beasts! Run for your lives! RRRUUUNNNN!!! *sniffle* Poor Tom...

Honestly, some memories cannot possibly be anticipated. Thanksgiving 2010 will always be remembered as the year that we had four turkeys, and only one of them was cooked.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I pray that your Thanksgiving is filled with many blessings and much happiness. While you're enjoying the delicious food and the great company of family and loved ones, try not to overlook the true intention of this holiday.



{To read the original Thanksgiving Proclamation, click picture to enlarge.}

Please remember to genuinely credit the Lord Most High for your blessings and sincerely give Him thanks for all good things.

(How cool is it that we live in a country that proclaims a specific day for the entire nation to recognize and honor our Father, focusing on thanksgiving and prayer? I love Mr. Washington.)

Enjoy your holiday!

Thanksgiving, 2009 #2

Brad's family is really good about celebrating holidays after the fact. Since they have three boys, they've found that it's easier if those three boys spend actual holidays with the girls' families, and then the following weekend together as Mehaffeys. As a married-in, I so much appreciate that stress-free solution.

Also, since all three of the boys and their prospective girls live in Nashville, they decided that it's more convenient for the parents to travel down South than for the 6 kids to go up North. For our commencement of a Nashville Mehaffey Thanksgiving, Brad and I hosted the meal for the family. Yep, you heard that right, Brad and I hosted the family Thanksgiving. How grown-up is that?? I was a little nervous since our kitchen is about the size as my office cubicle, but we somehow made it work.

We turned our dining room table sideways, and added our card table to the end of that to have enough room for all of us. (Classy, huh?) Which turned out to be a great idea for the cooking, too, because we used that card table in place of counter space. Don cooked the turkey in the laundry closet, and the girls were completely pushed out of the kitchen when it was cutting time as all of the Mehaffey boys crowded in to gathere around their dad and learn the art of turkey carving. But overall, Heather and I totally proved ourselves worthy of the Mrs. Mehaffey title, as we split the meal with the Momma Mrs. Mehaffey. You won't even believe how much food we cooked. Let me just tell you.

Turkey, dressing, cornbread stuffing, noodles (upon Brad's insistence and thanks to the Amish people at the Farmers' Market), mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, a relish tray, grape salad, cranberry sauce and crescent rolls. And we had both fudge pie and pumpkin pie for dessert. Oh yeah, I totally had my hand in that. I even baked pies!

Seriously, we loaded the table with all of the food, sat in our seats, and held hands to pray. But before we could give thanks for all of our numerous blessings, I glanced up and down the table(s) at our feast, and yelled out "What?? Look at this! We are totally freaking awesome!!" and Heather and I high-fived across the table. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I was pretty darn proud of ourselves. For this anti-cooking amateur, I crossed over a huge hurdle that day. I couldn't hear "Mmmmm..." "Yum!" "This is great!" "Wow! So delicious!" or "You girls did amazing!" nearly enough. We were all beaming with pride.

One very great thing about hosting Thanksgiving dinner, is that you get to keep (most of) the leftovers! And believe me, even eight grown adults couldn't consume all of those fixin's! We had so much extra turkey, that Chester even got to enjoy a piece! Now, as a general rule, Chester does not enjoy the luxury of people food. But all the other dogs were getting some (oh, I haven't told you yet? Yes, there were other dogs), so it was only fair. I do believe he loved it!

Each year on Thanksgiving, we pose for the Mehaffey Family Photo that will accompany the annual Christmas letter. This year, Heather finally got to be part of it since she and Matthew are officially married and she's a legit Mehaffey! (Pay no attention to the clock in the background of the following pictures. Don't judge us. It could be referring to the morning.)

We also took the opportunity to take pictures of each mini-family and then a picture of each couple with their dog, since each couple had their own dog... Here's Don and Elaine with their new schnauzer puppy, Buddy!

Here are Brad and me and our little family photo with Chester.

Married Matthew and Heather and their baby girl, Kate.

Jeremy and Madison with his new (4 year old) dog, Abigail (Abby).

Of course, we had to take a picture of all of the proud Mehaffey Men with their dogs. Yes, the heights of the boys and then of the dogs is very humorous. I totally agree.

We could not resist trying to get a picture of all four dogs together. You can tell that "Grandpa" has a bag of treats off to their right. Abby (who loves food enough to steal a cinnamon roll right off of our kitchen counter!) couldn't wait. Then, when we got Abby settled, Kate was bored and decided that if she had to sit there and not move, then she was going to lay down. I think that the "cousin" picture (well, Buddy is technically an "uncle" even though he's the youngest) is absolutely adorable.

Surprisingly, having 8 people and 4 dogs in our house for 3 days wasn't nearly as chaotic as it could have been. Sure, Scattergories did get a little bit out of hand, but we had a great time spent together. I always count our family as one of the biggest blessings in our life. Definitely a great way to spend Thanksgiving.

Complete Mehaffey Thanksgiving Photo Album