Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving Aftermath, 2007

CLICK ON ANY OF THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE.

Well, Thanksgiving 2007 has come and gone. Many things were different from Thanksgivings past and many things were much the same.

First, the things that were the same.

Good food. Too much good food! Note the pictures to the left.

Family. Not everyone was there, but the ones of us that were, were together and had more than enough to eat.

Fun and laughter, and lots of it.

Love. Lots of that, too.And now the things that were different about this Thanksgiving.

Jessica and Jason and Emmy. Jessica and Jason weren't married until December 9, 2006, so although they were together they weren't married last Thanksgiving.

And this is Emmy's first Thanksgiving. Pictures following down below.Daddy died on Dec. 19, 2004 and Mama died on April 13, 2005. Thanksgiving 2005 was our first big holiday without them and we were all kind of adrift. Nobody really spoke up and offered to host Thanksgiving dinner until Danny and Mikki, my sister Ducky's son and daughter in law, invited everyone to their house. Lamar and I, Cecil and her hubby Brian, Jessica and Jason and Ducky all went to Danny and Mikki's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Sue and Donna did their own thing.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It was just different. Different from all the years we all went home to Mom's and Dad's for Thanksgiving, Christmas and all the other holidays.

Thanksgiving 2006 I cooked Thanksgiving dinner here at my apartment and invited anybody who wanted to come. The same with Christmas. And it was good being together, but it was still not the same as when Mom and Dad were still with us.

But Cecil left a comment on my last post that really made me think. This Thanksgiving was just a little different, and it had nothing to do with where we were or even particularly who was there or wasn't.

Cecil said that this year at Jessica and Jason's, it felt like Thanksgiving again. And she was exactly right. The last few years Thanksgiving and Christmas haven't been bad, they've just been different. Adjusting to Mom and Dad being gone and some of us doing our own thing has been hard. We've not just been grieving their death, we've been grieving the loss of our togetherness on Sundays and holidays. Mom and Dad were the glue holding our family together as a group.

I would be lying if I said that I don't miss ALL of us being together on Sundays and holidays now, but there comes a time when it's necessary to move on and make new traditions, or just forget traditions and do something different every holiday.

But this year, it's really felt like Thanksgiving for me. And I am very thankful for that.

Cecil and Sue came up to visit today so that's one reason I haven't posted before now, and then Jessica, Jason and Emmy came by for a while. I'm keeping Emmy tonight so Jessica and Jason can have a little time to themselves. That's another reason I haven't posted before now.

I finally got Emmy to sleep around 8 pm, but she's been sleeping very restlessly and waking often. I've had to put her pacifier back in her mouth several times, and I've had to rock and soothe her several times as well. This last time she woke at midnight I got her up, checked her diaper and fed her, but she'd only take a couple of ounces from her bottle instead of her usual 7 ounces.

I think she's just restless because she's in an unfamiliar place. The last time she slept overnight here she was only 4 months old and at that time she really wasn't paying all that much attention to her surroundings. Now she has a routine and is very aware when she's not in her own bed with her own "stuff". She's wide awake, in her walker behind me, playing happily with the toys on her walker. It's now almost 1 am and Emmy's showing no signs of being ready to go back to sleep anytime soon. I'm hoping she'll be hungry and finish a whole bottle soon. Hopefully she'll get her belly full and get sleepy!Jessica and Jason are pretty much unpacked and settled in their new house. I have some good news to report on Jason. He went to work last Monday! He's making pretty good money and says his job is easy and he likes it so far. I am so thankful that he got a job, and just before Christmas.

Thanks to all of you who've been praying for Jason and all of us. We're all feeling better and Jason has a new job. Those are all answered prayers and I appreciate all of your prayers and thank God for you.Now, I've got to see if I can get Emmy fed, changed and back to sleep. Grandma would like to get a little sleep tonight herself.

Y'all have a great weekend.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your banner/header

IM pleased you had a good thanks giving

bless you Diane for allowing Jessica and Jason to have some time to themselves

shes such a happy girl

CONGRATULATIONS to Jason that really help them wont it:)

all the best with Emmy Diane :)

Karen H. said...

Good Morning Diane,
I love your new Header. It is so beautiful. It is cold out there this morning. I just got back from taking hubby to his truck and man, it is cold. The radar is showing some snow falling, but there was no snow falling outside here. I'm so glad yall had a great Thanksgiving. The food looks delicious. I didn't take any pictures of mine. The only camera I have is my cell phone camera. Sometimes they don't take good pictures. Hubby did take some pictures of our tree with his cell phone the other night and I have them saved, but they don't look that good. I'm so glad Jason got a job. "THANK YOU JESUS". Another Thanksgiving there. I did some more decorating yesterday afternoon. After reading all my friends blogs, it has really inspired me to decorate more. This is the first time in a long time that I have decorated this much. I still have some more decorating to do. I have got to go get my villages from the old house and set it up here. I may do that later on this afternoon. It was just too cold yesterday to get out and do anything. It is always so nice when the grandparents keeps the grandkids so hubby and me can have some alone time. I really enjoy it. I love my girls now, don't get me wrong, but mommy and daddy has to have time to themselves once in a while. I do hope you got Miss Emmy to sleep so you can get some sleep. Well, take care my friend and have a great Saturday. May God Bless You and Yours.

Love & Hugs,
Karen H.
P.S. I will email you later today and let you know about my header.

Dawn said...

It sounds like a wonderful day. This was a abeautiful post about tings the same and things different. I haven't gone through the loss of a parent yet. We haven't had a lot of Thanksgivfing tradition in terms of where it is celebrated, but we have had lots of very mixed groups, with in-laws, outlaws, and friends. Always a blessing.

I'm so happy tha Jason has a new job and "it's easy." Wonder what he's doing. Hopefully Mike will have one Monday. Sounds promising. It's been a LONG, hard haul with Kristen being the breadwinner. Nuff about that!

Have a wonderful week-end!

Dawn said...

Me again - I meant to say that I am a traditionalist for Christmas as well. But about my "designer tree." When the kids were home, they always insisted on having the tree downstairs in the family room so they could lay on the couches under afghans and watch the lights. I always kind of wanted one in the front window that I could see when we came down the cul de sac. So when they got older, I compromised, bought myself an artificial tree, and began to design it in blue and gold, adding some stuff each year. It's been fun, but I don't know how long I'll continue this tradition. I'm getting too old and tired to put up two trees. Since they're gone, I may end up putting the other one upstairs in the window - who knows? Well, probably not. Tradition holds on pretty tightly, you know!

Anonymous said...

You had a great Thanksgiving. All that food! And it all looks so yummy.

Great news about Jason's job. I'm sure they must be so relieved.

And look at that little twerp on her hands and knees! She's getting so big - it's amazing how quickly they grow.

Hope you finally got some sleep.

someone else said...

Changes can be so difficult, but not always a bad thing. I'm so happy you're feeling the aura of thanksgiving and that you had such a nice day.

Mary said...

Diane,

You Thanksgiving sounds like it was wonderful and I enjoyed the photos. I LOVE your Christmas header.

Please drop over to my blog. I have a little something for you there.

Blessings,
Mary

MightyMom said...

nights like that I sleep in the recliner with the baby on my chest.

new traditions can be wonderful. your life is full of new beginnings!

Barb said...

I know exactly what you mean about it taking a while for the holidays to start seeming like the holidays when a parent dies. When Rob's mom died, we were all at loose ends. Every single Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, for our entire marriage, was at her house. Finally, everyone is coming together again but of course we're all spread out now. Still, this Thanksgiving with my own little family and me being the queen bee was a nice holiday. It just took me a while to get used to that role I guess.

That crawling baby is just precious. You can't imagine how impatient I'm getting that Avery won't be here until March 1st. I'm already buying pink things! LOL

And congratulations to Jason. What a huge relief that has to be. Sounds like everything is finally falling into place for your kids and they will be nice and settled for Christmas. Great news, Diane.