Before and After

Before:

After:

This is my favorite time of the year, and Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday of them all. We had a wonderful holiday as usual in Florida with my extended family. The turkey dinner was a success...so much good food. There were three types of turkey (smoked, fried, and traditional), fried quail (!), all the best sides, and I even threw in a few Chris Peterson classics to make my husband feel more at home.

The festivities were held at my my Aunt Cathy's and Uncle Ray's beautiful home.

This is their property, looking out towards the lake. Actually, this is right where Casey and T.C. will be getting married in April!

Look at Cathy's new greenhouse, which is built in my grandparent's memory.

It's full of orchids!

Florida is beautiful this time of year; warm during the day and nice and cool at night. We were so happy to stay at my cousin Casey's brand new house which she and her fiance T.C. bought a few months ago.

The trip was bittersweet; there was definitely something missing. This tradition was started and continued by my grandparents, who we've lost since last Thanksgiving. We visited the cemetary to see the new headstone at my grandparents' graves. It was very nice to be there together; we all read or talked. It was important to include them in the weekend, because it just didn't feel right without them.

We made the most of our time together.

We sat on the dock and read a book....we canoed with the doggies...

We watched some football, we had a great BBQ at the Schers' beautiful home, we visited our condo on the Gulf of Mexico (here's the view from the porch!), we ate fresh seafood at Crabby Bill's, and we played lots of Catch Phrase!

The crowning glory of the weekend was on Sunday. We started off the day with a nice brunch with all of my grandparents' friends, and then we (the kids) headed off to the Tampa Bay Bucaneers football game!

Casey works for the Bucs as their graphic designer (she designed this huge billboard!)

She got us all tickets to Sunday's game. We had great seats in the employee section, and we got to see her down on the field! I was so impressed! (she's down in the lower left corner of this picture..)

Here are Haley and her no-longer-phantom boyfriend Evan... Evan, Ali, and Adam pre-game...
T.C. and Brian... Note that Brian is the only one not wearing Bucs gear...ever the loyal Bronco fan.

Adam and Ali...

There was one more surprise...after the 3rd quarter, our names were on the Jumbotron!

One last night together, and then we were off to the airport. A five-hour delayed flight just gave me more time to knit!