A Thanksgiving to always remember....November 2007

This Thanksgiving was perfect. Every Thanksgiving is absolutely fabulous, but this year seemed like the best one ever!!! I worked until noon the day before Thanksgiving. Got home and cleaned up a few things and baked a couple of pies. The air was filled with anticipation of Bree and John's arrival from Chicago and the fun I knew all of us would have.

Bree and John arrived around 9 or 10 p.m. They came through the door with their backpacks and games and squeels from Bree and lots of hugs and kisses. We were thrilled to see them!!!

I had made macaroni and cheese and barbequed beef sandwiches. Bree was glowing. She looks fantastic....and John as handsome as ever. Gabe Downs, Bree's friend from high school, came over about 20 minutes after Bree and John arrived. It was wonderful to see Gabe. He lives in Iowa now going to school for his PhD. It felt good to hug his neck. He is a great person.

I stayed up about an hour after Gabe got there. It was great laying in bed listening to their laughter. It filled my heart with a warm, content feeling. I woke up about 2 or so to the sound of Michael's voice followed by laughter. The next day Bree told me Gabe didn't leave til 4:00 am!!!!

Thanksgiving Day dawned beautiful and cold. The kids were all sleeping. Archie put the turkey in about 9 and we just relaxed and puttered in the kitchen until it was time to wake everyone up for Thanksgiving dinner. Archie went to pick Mom up. Michael had a cold and wasn't feeling up to par plus he had to work at 4:00. I felt bad that he wasn't feeling well.

We sat down to eat at 1:30 or so. The meal was delicious. Archie does a wonderful job on the turkey. We had a nice meal and good conversation. It was so lovely to have my family all together. After dinner we took pictures and talked. John watched some football on TV, Archie took a nap, Michael went to work. Bree and I went on a nice walk and we even did some running/jogging. Poor Bree was holding back for me!!! She didn't want me to have a heart attack trying to run too much. I'm not as "in shape" as I should be!!!

We came home from our walk and pulled out the desserts and coffee and dug in. Then Bree, John, Mom and I played Taboo. I think Mom really enjoyed it. She is good at Taboo!!!

Then Archie took Mom home and Bree and I got in our jammies. When Archie came home the 4 of us watched Ratatouille!!! Archie and I loved it!!! What an adorable movie!!!!

Needless to say, I, Kelli Anne Bristow, stayed up til 1:00 a.m. which is HIGHLY UNUSUAL for me! Shows what good company I was in and how much fun I was having!!! Bree and John hooked me up to a myspace page and that was fun getting stuff put on that. Bree and I talked til I finally said I had to go to bed. We never run out of things to talk about. She is so fun and interesting to talk to and she is such a good listener. She and I are like two bugs in a rug. We can just look at each other and start laughing.

The next day, Friday, I thank the good Lord, I had taken off from work. Bree and John got up about 10:30. We talked over coffee and tea and then they left about 12:30. I hated to see them go...but I will see them again in 2 weeks. I am heading back to Chicago for a weekend to help Bree with some organizing and re-doing her shelves and cupboards.

It was FANTASTIC. A fabulous, spectacular, Thanksgiving Holiday 2007.