Happy Thanksgiving 2025 - 2025/11/27

Happy Thanksgiving! It's the time of the year for being Thankful for what you have and hanging out with family you love. For our Thanksgiving, we're headed to Colorado to be with my family! 

But before we get there, let's linger in Florida a little longer. Right after Halloween ended and all the kids' Halloween decorations around the RV came down, they ducked into their room, closed the door, and got busy preparing for the next holiday. With everything you're seeing in the stores, you might think that means Christmas, but no, we've got Thanksgiving to celebrate first! So I was very delighted to see that they've made a whole bunch of different Thanksgiving themed decorations for the house. A big turkey for their door plus a banner of fall leaves. 

And not just one set of fall leaves. There's banners of them hanging throughout the RV. And a pilgrim hat in the background. 

Doors have been covered with cutouts of pumpkin pie, cranberries, and mashed potatoes. 

A scarecrow (wow, colored tan by hand, we need to get you some extra colored construction paper). 

And apple trees that are ready to be picked. I love all the creativity! 

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, after finishing a full morning of gymnastics, and lunch at home, we headed to the airport for our flight. We love riding the train to get to our airline gate and the kids always want to sit in the window. It's funny how the kids know the name of the Orlando Mayor (Buddy Dyer) because he greets us through the train speaker whether we're coming or going. 

All set in the boarding area, ready to head to a much colder climate in Colorado. 

Down the jet bridge in our shorts and short sleeved shirts. 

And off on a direct flight to Denver! 

Welcome to Denver! 

We like being in the front row window on the train here too. And you never know who might be doing the "Welcome to Denver" announcement here. Today it was a member of the Denver Broncos! We loudly said "GO BRONCOS!" but no one else in the train joined us. Bah. Tourists. Whatever. We've been enjoying watching some very exciting games this season. Go Broncos! 

Before we left Florida, many many times, Theresa and I told the kids to make sure you have regular shoes for Colorado. 

Alli (after we'd already arrived) - Oh! I forgot. I only have crocs...

Oops. 

Pop Pop was waiting for us outside to take us down to Colorado Springs! 

We did a quite a few things between arriving and Thanksgiving Day, but I'll cover those in a separate post. We decided that today, we'd hang out at Patrick and Megan's house. 

The kids have been busy this week, disappearing into the basement to work on some secret project they didn't want anyone to know about. They've come up with quite a few clever things in the past, from different festivals, to a full-on movie. What do they have in store for us this year? 

It's a Thanksgiving Turkey Tree! 

We thought it was super cute. 

And there's presents under the tree for everybody! 

The tree isn't bare either. It has ornaments of pilgrim hats and pumpkin pies. And I think they've used enough tape to keep it stuck to the ground! 

Everyone thought it was super adorable. 

For Thanksgiving presents, they had these packages for everyone. It's got a super cute Turkey tag on each one, and the wrapping on the actual present is well done too. 

Inside are two personalized drink coasters for each person. One is design is from the Spirograph they found in Gram's basement. The other is specific for each person. Hades/Pain/Panic for me. A muscled arm flexing for T. Flowers for Gram. A picture of the earth (since he loves being outdoors) for Pop Pop. A Duke logo for Patrick, and a Starbucks logo for Megan. Nice job kids. 

And there's a bonus present under the tree too. It's in a special popsicle stick box. 

From the Makers of Take 4. 

It's to Gram and Pop Pop who love card games. 

But for everyone to enjoy. 

It's got an instruction booklet and everything to go with it. Ian led us through a round of how it's played. 

There's 6 cards laid on the table. 66 cards total in the deck, so 11 rounds. As many players as you want can gather around the table. 1 card is flipped and it can have anywhere between 1 and 10 points. If you're the first to touch the card, it's yours and you're out for the rest of the round. If you are too slow and you touch either the card or the first person's hand, you're out! No points for you! And there's also cards with negative points, so you can't just be fast; you need to judge if you really want in. 

So, do you randomly decide to go for a card quickly? Do you try to get one of the first couple? Do you wait until the end? 

In the end, Gram was the first winner of Take 6! Congratulations! 

For the Thanksgiving meal this year, I think we were all on board with making things easy for everyone. Last year we turned Thanksgiving on end with Graciasgiving (a Mexican themed Thanksgiving dinner). This year, every family is bringing 1-2 different items to contribute to the meal. Megan opted for a charcuterie tray to nibble on during the day before the Thanksgiving meal. 

Some yummy meats, cheeses, fruits, candied nuts, and a goat cheese spread that she made.

And even more tasty treats! I like the little signs in the cheeses. 

Yummy! 

And later in the day, after watching lots of football, we settled down for our main Thanksgiving dinner. We went around the table saying what each of us was thankful for, including family, health, and the ability to travel to see each other. 

Our non traditional dinner including fall-apart brisket (from Pop Pop, interesting considering he's still vegetarian), mashed potatoes (Gram), Green Beans (J&T), and rolls (Patrick). 

Plus pumpkin and apple pies (J&T) and Apple Butter cookies (Megan). Not pictured is giant pot of Grandma's Spiced Tea that Megan had on the stove the entire day. It gave off a wonderful fall smell and I had quite a few warm mugs of it. It's been an awesome Thanksgiving Day hanging out with family. We have a lot to be thankful for.