My Thanksgiving without the Gobble Gobble..No Turkey!

My Thanksgiving holiday was a different sort of holiday than normal. My brother had to be on call from 5 pm to 5 am on Thanksgiving day, so we headed to Nashville to make sure he wasn't left out of the celebrating. We spent most of the morning traveling. On the trip over I indulged on Sarah Palin's new book "Going Rogue." I fascinated by this amazing woman who had a very ordinary life yet took what God gave her and created a very successful political career. She didn't let anything or anyone get in her way. She used her common sense to get things done and did a lot to help the people around her. So inspiring. I was totally motivated to shake things up a little in my own life. I even stuck with it during the political sections that I know very little about.. all things Sarah.. that's what I"m all about. We arrived in Nashville around noon and went to the restaurant we had planned on.. only to find there was a 2 HOUR WAIT!! We were all shocked over the gobs of people who were eating out on Thanksgiving. Kinda sad actually. Anyway.. we settled on Cracker Barrell.. even though that too, was an hour long wait. It was a fun memory.. something different. I had a homestyly sampler with ham, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings and three kinds of veggies.. including turnip greens of course. =) After the traditional stuffing of our bellies.. we headed over to the Opryland hotel where we had reservations for that night. ONce we checked in and figured out the labrynth of halls and dead ends.. we settled into our room briefly then trecked to find a parking spot on the opposite side of the hotel. We spent the evening walking around the beautifully decorated hotel. It's a wonder at Christmas.. One of the prettier parts was the life-sized manger scene outside. The figures looked like they were carved out of marble. It was good to see the birth of Christ honored despite the society around us continually getting further and further away from christianity. Jonathan got a call to go into work and dad went along with him, so mom and I settled into the room and watched a tear jerker of a movie. The next morning we set on our 7 hour journey to Chicago. Most of the trip was through the heartland of Kentucky and Indiana. I always love to people watch in those tiny little towns on the route.. It is truely a cultural experience to experience all the mulletts and poorly put together outfits. I even encountered a camo-clad gentleman staggering down the sidewalk drunk. I didn't know whether to help him or run away. ( it was around 1:00 pm- sad) After reading more about Sarah P. and a laptop movie or two later.. we arrived at Grandpa's. He just broke all of our hearts this trip. He keeps getting smaller and smaller and his quality of life is so poor. He even got confused several times, forgetting that we were visiting. He woke up one night thinging we were burglers. He really needs to be in a home, but his stubborn nature keeps him in the state he's in. I just hope he doesn't hurt himself.

Friday we celebrated Christmas early after a heart-attack causing brunch. My uncle Mark and dad did a lot of the prepping in the kitchen. It was cute! The two men of the family making breakfast for all. After our bellies were bloated from Mark's special "hash cookies", sausage and eggs made in ziploc bags (that's right- a little creepy) we sat around Grandpa's tiny living room and shared what we are thankful for then bridged the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas by sharing our favorite Christmas memory. This was a wonderful new tradition started by none other than my mother. Grandpa.. bless his heart.. just didn't get the gist of it and started sharing a word from the Lord. We were, of course, blessed by it, but when we asked him for his favorite memory.. he just went right back into preacher mode. While it was typical Grandpa, it was also sad that he didn't understand what we were asking him to do.

After laying around lazily, I just had to move.. mom and I went to the mall for a few Christmas gifts. It was good to get out. After church with grandpa and our traditional Pepe's for lunch, we packed our too small for 4 adult Toyota camry and headed back to Memphis. The normally 7.5 hour trip to Nashville turned into about 12 because people in Kentucky and Indiana seem not to know how to drive on slick roads. We got stopped by several wrecks. I tried to finish Sarah's book, but was cut short by and early darkness. I totally forgot my book light. So I settled for watching "The Holiday" and then one of my favorites: "Madea Goes to Jail" I just can't get enough Madea. A great trip. We got home around 2:30 am and I was more than happy to slide into my own larger and cleaner bed. Thank goodness for cleanliness. (Grandpa's house just isn't the standard of clean we are used to). I am thankful for my family with our many differences.. we are still close to them and always enjoy getting together. I am truely blessed.