Let the peace of God rule in your hearts... and be thankful. Col. 3:15
May my life be steeped in thankfulness!
We celebrated two Thanksgivings. The week before, the Graber siblings got together at the family farm. Julie drove down from Lawrence and we drove to Pretty Prairie together.
There had been some rain and the roads were a little sloppy, but not too bad.
A niece and her husband and daughter, and our nephew and wife were able to make it too.
Then on Thanksgiving Day and our son invited us to come share a few days with them in Arkansas. We decided to go through Tulsa as we figured the traffic might be heavy on the way through Joplin that we often take. The traffic was not bad at all.
Yes we do!!
Josh was smoking a turkey when we got there. Here is a picture before he put the turkey in the smoker.
The table was set so pretty!
Staci's parents joined us for the dinner.
The turkey was so moist and delicious as was the rest of the food!
The dogs were begging.
Emeri made cinnamon rolls with her Grammy for our breakfast the next day.
We always used to sleep at the Prier's home, but Josh's have added a pull out sofa in their study, so now they have a very comfortable guest room for us.
The next day was Black Friday. I have never gone shopping on a Black Friday before but Staci and her mom and Emeri said we should! We did not go at the crack of dawn by any means. We had a very good time at Pinnacle Hills.
I remember hearing someone say that on Thanksgiving we give thanks to God for all He is, for all He has done for us and for His provisions, including this nation. Then the next day we decide we need to buy more stuff! But of course, Christmas IS around the corner and there are gifts to buy! Lisa and I ended up buying the same gift for each other and we'll take them home and wrap them and act surprised when we get it.
We ate at the Big Orange. Look at the cassette tapes that are on the wall as a "wallpaper". I tried out their lentil burger with avocado.
By this time, Staci was pretty tired, so she went to rest in the car while Emeri and her two grandmas continued to shop!
When we got home, Josh fixed sukiyaki for dinner and then we drove to Fayetteville Square to see the lights.
You can see that we are in the University of Arkansas Razorback HAWG territory.
There was nasty weather predicted so we opted to return to Kansas a day early.
When we got home, I realized that the next day was Sunday AND the 1st day of Advent. So I removed the pumpkins off my table (see first picture on this post) and put out my yule log. My dad made this yule log for me when we got married. He had made one for mom when we lived in Japan so I grew up with this tradition.
I will try to do the rest of the decorations sometime soon.
