Giving Thanks

Well Halloween has come and gone, One Direction Day (let's just pretend it's an official holiday) was celebrated properly, and to round out the pre-Christmas holiday season a jolly-good Turkey Day was had by all! 

Now, as I do with all holidays, I take Thanksgiving pretty seriously. I mean what's not too love? You get to see the ol' fam-bam, miss school, and best of all, eat all day! And I did plenty of eating. However, in an attempt to burn calories and support a good cause, Thanksgiving was started with a brisk Turkey Trot 5k run walk. 

The Michael Bratton II Turkey Trot is is a charity run for depression and suicide awareness began by the Bratton family after the loss of their 25 year old son in 2006. This year was the 8th annual run and the cause has steadily grown each year, rounding out at around 2,000 participants this year. It's both a great cause and a good start to a day of being thankful for what you have, especially those people in our lives we love. 

The kids and I were up bright and early for the event. We ran a brief leg of the track and then proceeded to laugh/walk our way through the rest of the event. 

To top of the already great start to the morning we ran into some old friends at the finish line (who may have put us to shame by having just ran a 10k). 

After our bright and early morning Jewel and I said our farewells to our fellow trotters and went home to let the traditional Thanksgiving festivities commence. Beginning with, of course, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, whilst getting nice and perty. 

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent cooking, snacking, catching up with the family, and being serenaded by my wonderfully, musically, talented sister, Jewel (who I will one day convince to let me put her on the internet). 

Oh ya, and maybe goofing around like the wacky family we are. 

Until finally it was turkey-time! Just look at this hot-bird working it for the camera! 

Dad set to work carving up the beast and we soon sat down to our meal and all proceeded to eat way more than necessary (got to thoroughly induce the traditional Thanksgiving food-coma somehow). 

We reflected on all we have to be thankful for, which personally, is a lot this year: great family, friends, teachers, opportunities, and the general gift of living a happy life. BUT I don't want to gush, so instead I will make you all jealous with the delectable pie we proceeded to eat (as you could guess, this is my favorite part of the meal. Again and again: LOVE ME SOME PIE!). 

I hope you all also had a fantastic and tasty Thanksgiving. And though I'm sad to see it pass, the problem with Thanksgiving is it holds us back from Christmas. So let the Christmas carols, trees, movies, candy canes, and holiday spirit begin! *happy dance*

Yours, Kenna