Thanksgiving

The year Ben and I got married we decided that the best way to celebrate holidays with our respective families was to alternate holidays and years.  This year it was Thanksgiving with Ben's family and Christmas will be with mine.  (Although we do celebrate Christmas with both families every year ... just not necessarily on the actual holiday)

The tradition has (at least since I've been around) always been to go to Ben's aunt and uncle's home in Knoxville.  It is always a jolly time, enjoyed with copious amounts of family, food, laughter, wine, and Black Friday Shopping.  Oh, and The Christmas Story is usually playing on a continuous loop on the television.

We arrived in Knoxville on Wednesday evening and relaxed with Ben's aunt and uncle and brother after we got Wyatt to sleep.

Thursday morning started bright and early with a pancake and bacon breakfast - Wyatt's favorite!  Then I stupidly got him dressed in his Thanksgiving outfit.  He looked adorable.

Not five minutes later he was completely dirty.  Oh well.

Once Lolly and Pops arrived, he ran to the truck to greet them.  And also to get his toys out!  And, just in case you were wondering that is dirt on his bottom. 

Trailer trucks, or anything that hooks together is a big, huge deal right now.  So immediately he asked his Pops to rig this ride-on and wagon together. 

He was in hog heaven.  And yes, we watched him VERY closely in the street.  Didn't actually let him ride there very long.

We then went inside for a quick lunch and wardrobe change.

While Wyatt was napping, we all got busy with the meal preparations.  And by 'we all' I mean Ben's mother and his aunt.  Ben, did carve the turkey though!

After a very scary oven incident, we finally got the whole meal prepared and came together for a pre-dinner toast!

It was a lovely afternoon and evening! 

We started out early the next morning, as is Longmire tradition.  We hit up breakfast at Hardee's, and then the outlets for some Black Friday Shopping. 

Here is my shopping buddy helping me out at Loft!

We wore ourselves out, and headed home for lunch and naps.  Only the wild monkey fell asleep on the way home from the outlets which meant no nap for anyone that afternoon :)

That evening, we headed out for a fabulous dinner with friends.  And thanks to Lolly, Pops, Great Aunt Susan, and Great Uncle Alfredo this was a dinner sans-babies!!

 We had a lovely evening! 

Unfortunately, the fun ends there as I was awakened at 3am to hear "Katie!  Wyatt is throwing up".  As it turned out W was the only sickie ... Ben, his mom, his dad, his brother, and his aunt had all picked up the same terrible bug.  Somehow his uncle and I did not get it.  (Awesome immune systems, I guess?)

So to sum it up -- the first half of Thanksgiving was perfect.  The second half reeked of vomit.