Home.

HOME AT LAST, HOME AT LAST, THANK GOD ALMIGHTY I'M HOME AT LAST!!!!!! I am so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. It was very nice to get to go "home" and see family and friends during the Thanksgiving Holiday but it took a toll on me. I am a creature of habit and it was kinda sorta difficult to make do without my own things. Like my own bed!!! I am grateful for the family that let us crash at their houses and that lovingly took care of our kids (Noni & Paw Paw)however I was so ready to come back to my own comfort zone. Not sure yet what we're gonna do about Christmas but if we decide to stay over I'm pretty sure we will pack up the sleeping bags and air mattresses and sleep in our own house in Dover. Even though it is completely empty and lacking any and all creature comforts it is still my safe haven and really where I longed to be the last couple of days. Once the house sells we will be able to get a nice hotel room for extended visits. I think the weekend would've gone better if I had had a place, that I felt comfortable in, to go to once or twice a day to just decompress from all of the togetherness.


Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic as usual!!! While I ate all the traditional fixings it's always the "nontraditional" that has me getting up for second helpings. I love me some turkey and mashed potatoes but I love sausage links and sauerkraut and gnocchi even more. Now don't get confused when I say gnocchi...it's not those little oval like noodles that you can buy in the pasta section at your local grocery store. Not even close. It's homemade doughlike balls smothered in Swiss cheese and butter. I think. I'm not really sure what's in the actual dish other than lotsa homemade love and yummyness. And the sauerkraut and sausages? Weird I know....but they did actually make me cry one long ago Turkey Day. I was newly pregnant with Isaac and...well....hormonal. I was looking forward to those little sausages mixed in with sauer-krauty goodness for 2 weeks. Poor Andy had to hear me going on and on about how much I was looking forward to completely stuffing myself full of cabbage. Only to not have them show up on the buffet that year. I seriously went home and cried. It is really THAT GOOD. Not to mention the dressing...lemon cake...assorted pies...and eclair dessert. Really everything at Gma Ruth and Gpa Bud's is always fantastic. Except maybe the homemade polenta. But sshhhhh!!! Don't tell gpa Bud that it's not my favorite. For all these years I've been heaping my plate full of the stuff because I know it makes him happy! Actually maybe I should actually take a bite of it again one of these days. Instead of discreetly pushing it around my plate. Maybe I would appreciate it now that I'm an adult. Come to think of it there was no polenta this year. I'm actually kinda disappointed in a weird way about that. I know that the tradition of always spending Thanksgiving Day at their house will always be a special part of my kids childhood memories....just as it is mine. We always feel comfy, welcomed and loved in that house. And we love spending time with ALL of our family.

We also took time out to visit with Andy's side of the family. The kids love love love going to gma and gpa's house. So much so that they didn't want to leave. They talked about their visit all the way home. For 2 whole hours!! Gpa C. has always held a very special place in Isaac's heart and it would seem that Asher is following suit. I took the kids to visit my Gma Eileen and they all had a rousing game of marbles while we watched Polar Express. Asher climbed right up on Gma's lap and snuggled in for the long haul....oh how I wish I'd had my camera with me. It was a picture worthy moment. The kind of moment that you want to preserve for generations to come. Meanwhile Isaac was hangin with his bf Mason. It was a much needed visit for both of the boys. I know we don't exactly live down the street from each other anymore but I just know these 2 boys are forever friends. The kind that always stick close and have each other's back. They spent 2 glorious days together. Just being boys. Thanks to Wendy and Shawn for having Isaac in your home for that long and loving him like he was a part of your family.

I'll post some Turkey Day pictures and thoughts on how the World really does revolve around us as individuals tomorrow. Maybe. I promise I'll try to anyway:)

One more tidbit. Do you know how to clean the impossibly messy pot that you used to make homemade polenta in? You put it on your back steps and the birds will seriously clean it for you. By the next morning all the stuck on mess will have been picked clean off courtesy of those lovely birdies. It's a win win situation.