Thanksgiving Shenanigans

What a whirlwind holiday! It feels like I spend so much time getting excited for any holiday or vacation, and then, poof!, it's over.

For the first time in a long time, the travel gods were on my side with this trip. I was scheduled to leave Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, but in an excellent decision on my end (if I do say so myself) I decided to head to the airport four hours early to see if I could hop on a standby flight due to the weather. It was only sprinkling, but forecasted to get worse as the day progressed, and PHL is no treat when there are weather delays.

I lucked out and got on a flight at 5.15pm and was back in the great state by 8:30. My original flight landed around 1am. Like I said, a wise move by yours truly.

So what did I do to pass the time while I was waiting for my new flight? Duh. Airport bar.

Wednesday was filled with baking and cooking. Pies, mashed potatoes, stuffing prep, you name it, we did it. I love spending time in the kitchen with my mom. There's not many people you can truly share a kitchen with. They're either in the way, or doing something wrong (bossy Mrs. B!), but Mama H. and I can work it in the kitchen. Get some candles lit, the Christmas carols going, a glass of wine, and voila, Thanksgiving dinner is nearly ready.

On Thursday morning, we have a newish tradition of doing the Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot. There's seriously no better way to start Thanksgiving than a good trot around the streets of Dallas. This year, unfortunately, it was more of a 5k stroll as I'll be the first one to admit, the whole "exercise" thing has fallen off the map with work, MBA and house nonsense. Must get back on that after the move.



Mr. B, me and Junior before the start. Please ignore the lack of shower/makeup/hair!

A little plug here for the Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot. If you're ever in Dallas on Thanksgiving morning, I would highly suggest this event. According to their website, it's the largest Thanksgiving day event of it's kind in the nation, and it's just so fun. 33,000 people, lots dressed up as turkeys, with their adorable pets and babies, running through the streets of Dallas. Awesome times.

The weather was really weird this year and the hanging fog gave it a very funny feel.

From the starting line, and there were tons more people behind us.

My favorite part is the announcer who runs through all the colleges and every cheers for their team. "Do we have any TCU Horned Frogs in the house?"

Um, yes, and I'm going to let you know it too!

Deep Ellum is under attack!

I was nonstop commenting about the fog. I have a slight weather obsession.

Mr. B's artsy fartsy photo of the skyscrapers and the fog.

After the Turkey Trot, we headed home where Mama H. had a huge pot o' chili waiting for us and then we got to cookin'! We ate fairly late this year since we had some of our friends join us for dinner. A long story short, but stick with me here: One of Rich's colleagues in the London office, who moved to Philadelphia around the same time we did (and was transferred to Arkansas last year. Now that we're headed South too, so hopefully we'll get to see more of them.) decided to check out Dallas for the weekend with their three wee-ones.

The rule at my parents house is the more the merrier, so it only made sense to have them over for Thanksgiving. Y'all, believe it or not, the Brits outnumbered the Americans at this year's dinner! What is the world coming to?

I hardly got any pictures from the dinner; it's fair to say I was preoccupied with the last minute preparations, but I did manage to snag this AWFUL picture of the turkey. Friendly readers, Christmas is just around the corner and if you wanted to buy me some photography lessons, well, I wouldn't object.

Seriously, Kate. WTH picture is this?

And there's nothing better after Turkey dinner than some cuddles from the most adorable 3 year old.

Playing some serious clapping games here.

Luckily, Junior was promoted from the kids table this year.



Here's how you know the next generation is going to be super tech-savvy. When one of the little ones told Junior he wanted to watch a rocket (yes, a rocket?), Junior grabbed the iPhone, found a YouTube video of a rocket, and entertained these kids for a good 10 minutes. That's got to be an attention span record. It's so funny to think while this is new, state of the art stuff for us, they're growing up with this technology and it's all they'll ever know. Plus, it melts my heart to see this photo too. Someone's going to be an awesome dad/uncle.

The rest of the weekend was a blur, and by that, I mean we did absolutely nothing. I don't think I changed from my PJ's (or showered - don't judge, you do it too) on Friday. Lots of football. And more eating. And some napping. And football. Some Christmas tree decorating. Repeat.

On Saturday, Mr. B and I headed over to Eff Dub, that's Fort Worth for those of you not in the know, for some Tex-Mex at Joe T's (that requires it's own blog entry), a quick trip to the bookstore to stock up on essential TCU gear and a sneak peak of the new stadium. Let's just say Hello Big 12 and I'm so glad we got season tickets this year because next year will be uh-may-zing. Love me some college football.

Sunday was a travel day and then, well, you saw my Monday post. The Post-Thanksgiving Blues. Which you'll be pleased to know I've officially recovered from thanks to an 8pm bedtime for two straight nights.

That's about it for Thanksgiving. Eating, sleeping, shopping, lots of family time and football. My ideal holiday.

I hope you and yours all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too - here's to the Christmas countdown!