a tale of three thanksgivings

Before Emmy was born, Joe and I decided to stop going to every family Thanksgiving we were invited to. We wanted to be able to stay in one place long enough to really enjoy the family time and not travel so much that we feel exhausted at the end of the vacation. 
This year, we decided that we wouldn't make any decisions about our Thanksgiving traditions and we would just see as many people as possible. My family lives in Birmingham and Joe's family lives in Huntsville and northeast of Gadsden. Each Thanksgiving trip is 4 hours of travel and 3-4 hours of family time. It can be exhausting, Emmy's schedule gets completely off and it's hard to adjust back to our schedules in time for work. 
When it's all said and done though, I am so thankful for our families. We are so loved and it is so fun to make memories together. I also appreciate my dad who said we could just do lunch sometime so we didn't have a 4th Thanksgiving!
THE SHUFFLE:
On Sunday, we had our first Thanksgiving at my mom's house. We always dress up a little, eat at the dining table with the fancy china and drink sangria. It's calm, we have Christmas music in the background and we take turns talking about all the reasons we have to be thankful.
 This is the Thanksgiving that most resembles how I grew up and I love the food and I love the tradition. 

Next up, we spent Thanksgiving day at Joe's maternal grandparent's house. They live on a lake and are just the sweetest grandparents anyone could ever have. Joe loves his Nanny & Papa Bill and we are so grateful for all that they have done for Joe.
 It's a completely different style of Thanksgiving. There are maybe 25-30 people (all family!) and a TON of food. Everyone brings food so there is an abundance of options and unique family recipes. We all grab paper plates and reverse fight for seats (that's where everyone argues trying to give up their seats for each other). It is much more laid back and people usually come and go quickly. We stayed late this year to soak up the time with Joe's Nanny and Papa to make the trip count. Emmy started to have her tired-baby meltdown and we headed home. 

On Friday morning, I had some of my girls come over for mimosas so we could all catch up and make plans for the Christmas parties.  On Saturday we hosted friends for the Iron Bowl. We had 6 people over so in all we had 6 Alabama fans, 1 Auburn fan and 1 neutral party. It was such an intense, incredible and terrible game. Joe still hasn't fully recovered. I don't think he will until we beat them next year. Lucky for me, my awesome brother-in-law stayed late to help Joe fix our sink. Poor Aunt Yellie (Danielle) had to wait on him so I convinced her to get cozy on the couch and Rufus helped her out. 

On Sunday we headed up to Huntsville for our last Thanksgiving. I was really excited about this one because there are actually kids. LOTS OF KIDS. Joe's cousin has 3 children, aged 6,5 and 3 and all of them are ridiculously cute. Emmy was shy for about 15 minutes and then started following around the older kids as if she were as big as they are.  Joe's paternal grandparents have a little farm; they grow their own vegetables and it makes for such a fun space for the kids. We were lucky it wasn't too cold and they were able to play outside. Everyone ended up coming out and I was so proud of Emmy laughing and playing and just being herself around people she doesn't know all that well. 
Sometimes you know that you are making memories that will stay in your mind forever. This day was one of those days. 

Emmy is so adored by her whole family, especially all the men in her life.  She is one lucky girl.