Day 24: Time Warp Tuesday

Last week I was wondering what sort of theme day Tuesday should have and blog royalty Swistle (if you don't read her, you should!!)suggested Time Warp Tuesday where you blog about something from your past. I really like the idea and by the way Swistle! commented! on! my! blog!! Since this week is Thanksgiving, my inaugural post will be about my Thanksgivings past.
Growing up our Thanksgivings were spent at our house with our family or maybe a close family friend. We had wonderful food and ate until we would burst. Just like every other family really. Jayme and I got married in 1997 and a year later we were living in Germany with no family and a few acquaintances but we hadn't been there long enough to truly make friends. We were living in the base hotel and I was hiding out like a hermit due to my extreme introversion. We moved into our apartment the day before Thanksgiving and had no furniture, much less anything to cook or eat with. We hadn't even been to the grocery store yet! Just when we were thinking we would eat bowling alley gyros for Thanksgiving we were inundated with invitations. We ended up having dinner with one set of friends and dessert with another. It was so lovely and welcoming and for two kids FAR from home, it helped make the day a little less sad and a little more special.
The next year (1999) at Thanksgiving I ate more than Jayme did. I was pregnant with Raley and had just finished my 17 week battle with morning sickness. I was RAVENOUS!! We had a good friend of ours over as well and he was my guinea pig for my first ever Thanksgiving prepared completely on my own. He lived! He even came back voluntarily to eat my cooking many more times over the next 3 years. I love cooking for bachelors...they really will eat anything!
The year after that (2000) Raley was 6 months old and Nana and Papa came to visit us at Thanksgiving. I was so nervous!! Cooking for Army bachelors is easy compared to cooking for in-laws who are fabulous cooks themselves. Everything turned out fine though and it was wonderful to share a holiday with them so intimately. Usually holidays on Jayme's side of the family have a large number of people and an even larger number of dogs.
In 2001 we were back in the States living in Georgia. My brother Mike, his wife Wendy and their brand new baby boy lived 6 hours away in Florida so we drove down to spend Thanksgiving with them. Wendy's family came as well and it was great! I got a recipe from Wendy then that I use every chance I get. It's a very yummy Spinach Artichoke Dip and I am making it this year.
2002 my parents came to our house in Copperas Cove and I got the pleasure of watching my mom sit and enjoy a glass of wine instead of rushing around trying to time everything to be ready simultaneously. I felt like such a grown up!
I don't remember much about 2003 Thanksgiving and 2004 was the year Jayme was in Iraq so I am pretty sure that Thanksgiving that year was not a happy time for me. Starting in 2005, our Thanksgivings or the weekends after have been spent at our land near Crockett. It is just the best way to spend Thanksgiving. Deep in the East Texas Pineywoods, listening to the wind in the pine trees and the birds calling connects you to what is truly important. It's the ideal place to breathe and think and realize what you have to be thankful for. Surrounded by the beauty God has created and family I adore I am truly thankful for it all.