Thanksgiving 2025

 It was a nice, long Thanksgiving break starting with Austen arriving home a full week before Thanksgiving Day. He kicked off his break by eating a lot at home and at Ruth Lake (where he misses the sushi) as well as seeing many friends including his roommate whom he just saw for three months! It's good to know they aren't sick of each other yet. 

Peyton always ruins the photo

He did spend some quality time with us too at dinner, playing games as a family and watching some movies as well as practicing his golf on our new golf simulator. Surprisingly, he also studied a lot more than I was thinking he would. Now that his room is on the 3rd floor, I don't necessarily go up there all the time but every time I did, he was studying. That's what I like to see as he heads into his first semester finals his freshman year.

Tom worked late the Friday and Saturday/Saturday night before Thanksgiving so I was making sure the girls got where they needed to go for sports/practices and getting everyone fed. Sunday was a grocery shopping day and Monday and Tuesday, Tom headed to work for a bit before coming home 1/2 day on Tuesday to help prep. (Peyton also had school those two days.) I did venture to Hailey's school conferences on Monday (more on that in a follow up post) and got the table ready to host 17 - I'm glad I figured that out early since my Thanksgiving idea only had 16 place settings!

Tom and I then officially kicked off Thanksgiving by heading to our friends' house for a Friendsgiving on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, we did some more prep and the girls and I headed to a movie before Tom and the kids went to another Chicago Blackhawks game (Tom always gets awesome tickets and this time scored a skybox for four). 

Blackhawks game

We enjoyed a nice and relaxed Thanksgiving in our new home with family (who still can't figure out our curvy driveway). On Friday, we canceled our annual tree cutting for Saturday that we've been doing with friends for at least 25 years due to a blizzard forecast. We were all sad to not catch up with our friends and pick out the perfect tree. But we knew the storm was coming so we went to the local Lions Club tree lot where we hoped to pick out a great tree but the tallest they had were about 7-8 feet for $185 and I thought that was too short for our now 12 foot ceilings. So off we went to another tree lot where we found a 10-foot tree that cost us $400!! Now don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful tree but we literally would've pad 1/3 of that price at a tree farm and had much more fun! 

But we accomplished the goal and that was to buy the tree on Friday so when we were snowed in on Saturday, we could decorate the house and the tree and that's exactly what we did. So it all worked out. It was a cozy Saturday and we were all hoping when we woke up on Sunday that the roads would be cleared enough for Austen to head back to school and they were by 5pm when he left. The goodbyes weren't too tough this time since we'll see him in another week as he's done with most of his finals/presentations by December 8th so he'll be home for a good 10 days before taking his car and driving back for his one final (oh the beauty of being 2 hours away!). But we are looking forward to seeing him again soon. 

Grateful this Thanksgiving to know he's thriving at U of I and that our family has adjusted a bit to having him gone. Thankful too for our beautiful new house; cherished friendships with both new and old friends; time spent with our extended families; and of course our good health. Truly blessed. 

Thanksgiving Dinner