Thanksgiving Leftovers

It's hard to believe that it has been a week since my dad picked me up from my house on campus to drive me to Dayton for a family-filled week. My dad comes to retrieve me from OU every year after Fall Quarter finals, which end right before Thanksgiving. I think this is the only long car ride that I ever look forward to. There is just something so nice about recapping the quarter and catching up with my pops for a solid 2.5 hours.

This Thanksgiving was a little different for my family. Instead of traveling to my mom's cousin's house for a big Thanksgiving dinner with both immediate family and distant relatives, we stayed at home and had a Thanksgiving celebration at our house. Both sides of my family attended our holiday get-together. A total of 24 people (my brother counted) came to eat turkey and watch football ... and I guess to spend time enjoying family. 

My mom did an amazing job transforming our house into a Thanksgiving paradise. She also showcased her cooking skills by making some of the most wonderful food I have ever tasted. She even prepared the turkey -- and she is a vegetarian!

I feel compelled to share some tidbits from my holiday. As I have said before, I like lists. Therefore, this Thanksgiving post will be filled with them.

The first and most obvious list is what I am thankful for. I find new things to be thankful for every single day. This list includes a combination of things that I am constantly thankful for and things that I like a lot that just happen to be on my mind right now.

Things I am thankful for:

1. Family

Sibling love

The parental units

2. Friends, the old and the new

3. My health (minus the sinus headaches I get whenever I go to Dayton)
4. Coffee
5. American Horror Story -- I am unashamedly obsessed with this show.

6. My education and especially my grammatical knowledge -- This girl rarely misplaces commas or uses "your" instead of "you're."

7. Twitter -- Without it, how would I know what my best friends and my favorite celebrities are doing, thinking, eating, feeling, or wearing at all times of the day?
8. Animals that wear clothes

How could you not be thankful for this?

9. Blogs and Bloglovin' for helping me keep my favorite reads organized

10. Pandora -- Sometimes it's just too hard to pick music for myself.

The next list is also somewhat obvious. My only hope is that tofurkey will be on this list one day. Hey, a vegetarian can dream!

Things I ate on Thanksgiving:

1. Mashed potatoes
2. Broccoli casserole
3. Corn casserole
4. Green bean casserole
5. Sweet potatoes
6. Roll with butter and homemade jam
7. Pumpkin pie with tons of whipped cream
8. Cranberry fluff

Whew, I feel a food coma coming on after just making that list! I also ate the above foods in leftover form for the two days following Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a holiday filled with tradition. After all, the Thanksgiving holiday traces its origin to a 1621 celebration in present-day Massachusetts. (I Googled that.) But the great thing about traditions is that new ones can be created at any time. This list is filled with things that happened this year that I'm sure will become tradition.

New Thanksgiving traditions:

1. Northmont High School Class of 2009 partook (it's a real word, I swear) in Thanksgiving Eve festivities with the rest of the alumni.
*Note: My pre-Thanksgiving activities did not at all hinder me from waking up in time for the start of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Rookies

2. A turkey nugget joined the celebration.

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving

That is my niece, Ceci a.k.a. the world's cutest child.

She looks just like her aunt

3. The main event was at my parents' house.

4. My family didn't bicker on the way to a Thanksgiving gathering. No car ride means no car ride arguments.
5. I lost my voice from gabbing too much with family.
6. My dad went Black Friday shopping at midnight. He got this:

"I could be clothes and shoes"

Thanksgiving is always a special day for me. My life is overflowing with things to appreciate, and Thanksgiving makes me extra aware of how much I have to be grateful for. On Thanksgiving, I am reminded that the fullness of my life can only be matched by my post-pumpkin pie stomach.