Thanksgiving Trip 2009

This year we decided to travel to Michigan for Thanksgiving, and stay home for Christmas. We have only spent one Christmas in Georgia since moving here, and now that we have a "family" of our own and Annika is starting to understand the meaning of holidays, I would like her to be able to wake up in her own bed on Christmas morning and start holiday traditions of our own.

We also wanted to travel to Michigan because this was the first major holiday that my Dad would not be present at. He was moved to the nursing home shortly after the holidays last year, so this season will be hard on my Mom. What a better way to support her than to distract her with a lively 2-year-old living at her house, right? :) Well, Annika and I flew up to Michigan on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and spent the next few days just hanging around and catching up with family and a few old friends that we haven't seen in a while. It was great to meet two new little friends, Xander, who is Kristan's - a great friend from Storer - and Ella, the newest addition to the 1510 family. Both are so cute, and it's great to see other friends enjoying (or at least surviving) parenthood too.

Lee had to teach the week of Thanksgiving, so he drove up after school on Tuesday and arrived Wednesday afternoon to meet us. I am so thankful for a husband that is willing to travel all that distance by himself! We had a great day on Thanksgiving, with a huge dinner at my brother's house with all the immediate and extended family, and then took our two nieces to see Fantastic Mr. Fox for Haley's 7th birthday. Great movie...

Friday morning, we took full advantage of having "Grandma T" around and Lee and I snuck out of the house at 4:15am for a little Black Friday shopping. We had a lot of fun, and I think it will become a new tradition for us when we spend Thanksgiving in Michigan! We got some great deals and nearly finished our Christmas shopping, and were back home by noon. Not a bad morning at all! Saturday morning we left in the wee hours of the morning and headed back to GA so that we would have a day to recuperate before jumping back into the swing of things. A mere 15 hours on the road and we were home, and thankful again for such a great trip!