A "Wild, Wonderful" Thanksgiving

We didn't really have any plans for Thanksgiving Day. But "plans" are overrated when you're married to my husband!

Wednesday evening, after he got home from work, Nick announced, "Why don't I call my Aunt Kathy, see if she can put us for the night, and we can go down there for Thanksgiving Day?"

An hour later, our car was loaded down with four people, two dogs, blankets and pillows... and we were on our way to Aunt Kathy's.

We have had plans for quite some time to go to Aunt Kathy's this weekend for a late Thanksgiving celebration. Nick's brother and his wife are in town... and Nick's sister and her daughter are arriving late, late, late Saturday night. So, after the Weirton Christmas parade tomorrow, we're heading to Aunt Kathy's to spend the night and have the Thanksgiving feast Sunday afternoon with most of Nick's family. We'll still be doing that... yesterday was just a "bonus." A nice, unplanned (in typical Nick style) bonus.

Thanksgiving means something very different in West Virginia than in most other parts of the country. It's not really about turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie and pilgrims. It's ALL about the menfolk leaving the house at 4am decked out in camouflage and Hunter Orange and sitting in the woods most of the day, hoping to drag home a deer at some point.

So, yesterday, we had a perfect "Wild, Wonderful" Thanksgiving. Nick spent the majority of the day in the woods with his brother, his brother's in-laws, his cousins, and his son.

Avery and I spent the day with Aunt Kathy and the 20+ dogs that she's boarding this weekend. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast (courtesy of Aunt Kathy), the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, a pot of coffee, a scrumptuous lunch (courtesy of Aunt Kathy's mom), and lots of good conversation. We also visited with my sister-in-law and her family and greeted the mighty hunters when they returned (without deer, unfortunately, but that's not really the point, is it?).

Maybe for the first time since we moved back here last February, I felt like we were "home" again. There's a lot that I feel is not-quite-right in my world these days, but yesterday doesn't fall into that category. It was the best Thanksgiving Day I've had in a long time. And I'm very thankful that my husband doesn't believe in "plans."