Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year. The trees are changing, chill temps are coming, a cool wind whispers fall as it whips your hair around your face. Not to mention the anticipation of all the good food coming your way. The rush of preparing the table, creating a centerpiece from the greenery and fall leaves found in the yard, the smells drifting from the oven, the pies cooling on the counter; this is Thanksgiving. It’s the family coming in the door with smiles and thankfulness in their hearts.
It’s the Thankfulness board on the wall were we all write our blessings. As the day goes on, the paper becomes decorated with the block letters of John David all the way up to Mom’s cursive. The blessings on the paper overflow just as they do in our hearts. Looking at the Thankfulness wall now, I know that not even half of our blessings that are represented on that paper, but even the small amount we wrote down call us to be reminded that we are incredibly gifted. God has been mindful of His servants.
This year we decided to tackle family photos on Thanksgiving Day. The original plan was to include my grandparents, but that plan got changed when my grandmother fell two days before Christmas Sorry, Thanksgiving. (I’m listening to Christmas music because it’s socially acceptable to do so now. And because it’s Michael Buble. No shame.) And yes, that typo did actually happen. Anyway. She fell and broke both wrists, and came home with hands wrapped up like the Abominable Snowman. (Can you tell I’m ready for December?) Even though my grandparents weren’t able to join our photo fun, we still had a great hour and a half updating our family photos.
Being the photographer and being a part of the family is a bit of a challenge. But it makes for great laughs. Like when I get the shot posed and framed, set the self-timer, run to my spot in the picture, only to hear someone in the family say, “Uhh, Caitlin, it’s not blinking.” Which means I really didn’t push the button. Let’s try that again.
Reason #94852 why I love living in the country? Easy access to gorgeous fall colors. No travel time needed. Plus it’s pretty sweet when you have an old barn on your property that you can use as a background.
And when you have a little brother like I do, you end up with more silly pictures than good pictures. But that’s why we love him.
These two. This is probably my favorite picture of my wonderful parents. It’s their 25 anniversary next month by the way, and I couldn’t love them more.
And Elijah’s graduating next year. Say what…. I can’t believe it. I still remember playing “Boxcar Children” with him and getting in trouble together on a pretty constant basis. Two-hand touch football on the trampoline may have ended with him being pushed (accidentally) through the hole in the net, but he seems to have turned out alright.
Josie. The blue to my brown. She’s almost as tall as me. I don’t know how to feel about that. We’ve shared a room since she was born, and while we may not always agree on whose mess is on the floor there’s no one else I’d rather share my closet with.
And John David. Where do I even start. He’s the one who can almost always put a smile on my face. He is the source of our family laughter. Sometimes all we can do is shake our head and smile. He pulls the most random and crazy dance moves. When Elijah starts beat-boxing, it’s like he can’t even help it. The dancing comes on it’s own volition. John David is the one who runs up to give me a completely random hug. He always wants to be the last one served so that he makes sure everyone else gets what they want first.
Because no family should get pictures without at least one silly photo, we got ours.
This one is pretty much our family in a nutshell. You have three of us who are the silly ones, and the other three usually look on and wonder where in the world we really came from. We all get it from Dad. 😉
