Pre Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

Ever since Tyler and I have been together...about 6 years we have never spent a holiday apart. I like spending the holidays with Tyler. He is generally in a good mood thanks to lots of home cooking and football. But alas this year we will be spending Thanksgiving apart. In my life my mother has only had our whole family over for a holiday meal one time. We usually go to someone else's house, because it is more convenient for the majority of our family. But this year she will be having her entire family over for Thanksgiving. And as I have missed a lot of family moments living 8 hours away, and the fact that Tyler will be working the day before, the day after, and the Saturday following Thanksgiving there would be no point of me staying home with him. Although we made the decision for me to go home jointly I was still feeling a little bit guilty. A lot of people love food and football, but my husband LOVES food and football. More specifically homemade cooking and Alabama football. Both of which I will be indulging in on my trip to Alabama. So as I was saying I was feeling a little guilty when the greatest thing happened. My best friend decided to make an impromptu trip to our humble abode. It was then I decided I would whip up (with her help) a holiday meal for my husband and a few of our Florida friends. So this morning Jenny and I went to the store and bought all the necessary ingredients for a feast for 8. It was when we returned home with groceries in hand that we realized what a great undertaking we had signed up for. I had already invited people so we couldn't canceled. Well it is now about 12 hours later. Of the last 12 hours we have spent at least 7 of them cooking. But we pulled it off. Everybody enjoyed all of their Thanksgiving favorites. The leftovers are now securely in the refrigerator, and I am sitting here thinking over the many holiday dinners I have eaten in my 26 years. I never really thought about the hours of hard labor put into these meals. now have completed my first Thanksgiving dinner (with lots of help) I want to thank everyone who has ever helped to prepare a pan of dressing, a sweet potato casserole, a turkey, or any other part of a holiday feast. Thank you!