Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. -- Anthony Brandt

Listening to: Trainwreck by Demi Lovato


Truth be told, I have the coolest family ever. This Thanksgiving weekend solidified that belief so many times over. For one, I have a HUGE family. (on both sides, but we spent Thanksgiving with my Dad's side) This year we decided to have our Thanksgiving celebration at Frontenac State Park. You can rent out a little shelter deal they've got there. It's really nice because it takes the stress of house cleaning/preparing off of whoever is "hosting". Plus, there is plenty of running around room for the young energetic cousins. Not to mention, it's absolutely beautiful. This year not everyone could make it but there was 22 of us that showed up to celebrate together. It was really fun, and filling.

As if the day couldn't be any more fun, one of my aunt's/uncle's has a cabin about an hour away that we all spent the night at. So ALL the cousins (minus five of them) and a few aunts & uncles packed in and spent the night together playing games, singing karaoke, eating, chatting, etc. At one point a huge nerf-gun war broke out and the entire cabin (which is actually just a house on a lake rather than a cabin) was a battleground. It was so fun. Food was cooked until the second we went to bed, the last pumpkin pie was taken out of the oven around 11 pm. We woke up around 8:30am to cousins raiding the room wanting to snuggle. Then got up a bit later to a breakfast of pancakes, pears, kiwi, hard boiled eggs, coffee, milk, cereal, pumpkin pie... basically, the best breakfast ever. The lake had frozen over just enough, so later on everyone broke out their ice skates and skated on the lake. After about an hour, you could see the ice swaying on the unfrozen water beneath it. So that could only mean one thing..... time for a game of lawn hockey. Our team won. :) We went inside after and drank some hot chocolate, sang karaoke, played some ping pong, and then split up. Some people stayed in and messed around playing Christmas music, and others such as myself opted for archery. I hit the milk jug right on. But got schooled by my 13 year old cousin, Graham, when he nonchalantly owned the Root Beer bottle with the last arrow in the quiver. We ate lunch, had a short lived last Nerf battle, and then goodbyes were said.
It was one of the best weekends I've had all year. I wish it could happen every weekend. I hope your Thanksgiving was as fantastic as the one I was blessed with. There are so many things to be thankful for, and it's so easy to get caught up in the negatives.. but I hope you found thankfulness in something as simple as your family! Here's to a happy holiday, and many more!