Good morning, lovely people!!
I couldn’t let us get any closer to Christmas without sharing just a few of my favorite shots from our Thanksgiving holiday this year.
Our family on Matt’s side lives in Tennessee, and we always head there for the Thanksgiving holidays.
Matt’s family is awesome.
They like a lot of butter.
And aloe.
And I love them all beyond measure.
Going home to them always reminds me of those movies Dan In Real Life & The Family Stone.
Not so much for the awkward reasons…but for the bustling house filled with children, the loud laughter of brother and sisters (plus all of us in law’s), the tradition, and the meals pulled together in the kitchen.
I love being back in the country, since that’s how I grew up and it’s where I’m really meant to be.
We’re sort of the black sheep of our neighborhood with our big industrial spool in the driveway and yard that is often neglected.
We’re both country kids, after all.
For the last 8 years or so, there’s always been a squishy baby to cuddle and rock to sleep…sometimes the perfect opportunity to just sit a while.
Story time always does it for me. I sort of sit there and want to tear up, and then feel ridiculous for almost doing so.
But they’re all just so sweet when they’re quiet…and most of them love reading.
Reading makes me happy, ya know.
Uncle Jim does the best Junie B. Jones I’ve ever heard.
Without fail there’s always a kid photo shoot.
Mine are usually the ones leaving-slash-hating the photo shoot.
The other kids totally dig them.
I will too when my kids do.
It’s always a strange thing–marrying into another family. No matter how similar the families, there’s always something that’s done differently. Even saying that out loud is a delicate thing.
But here’s the thing I hope my Matt’s family knows about me–I’m sure some things are done differently, and I’m not perfect. But I hope they know I love them fiercely, with no condition or scale.
Butter and all.
🙂
*if any of my sweet family reads this, I hope you know I mean it all–especially the butter part.
Such sweet sentiments & I love all of the photos — especially story time!
Sweet. The picture of your daughter on the gate is adorable and the story time picture almost makes me tear up as well.
It is an interesting thing….merging families. My mother-in-law was so great about understanding that her children-in-law came with their own traditions and she’d try to incorporate them if she could. But it was always like going to a foreign country when we had a holiday at my husband’s place. Not bad or miserable, just different and I didn’t always understand the language. 🙂
I’m with Shari, I LOVE the pic of Ava on the gate. Perfection! Lisa~
Shaunna, thanks for sharing. The pictures of the kids are great. I just dread when all the girls are teenagers. We adults will never get to use the bathroom.
I love what you said about your in-laws because I can totally relate. I love my in-laws dearly; I married into a wonderful family. But yes, they do things differently than my family – particularly with regard to holidays. We live in the same state as my hubs’ family so we spend lots of time with them year round, but my family all lives in Alaska. My hubs comes from a family of 4 kids, me from a family of 9 kids. There are just 3 grandkids on my hubs’ side of the family now, and there are 22 on my side. Craziness! And oddly enough, the craziness is still what I’m most comfortable with. 🙂 Sometimes I wonder if that little bit of craziness in me makes my in-laws roll their eyes from time to time; but I know they love me, and vice versa.
For the first time in 6 years we are spending Christmas with the craziness that is my huge family. I can hardly wait! But on Christmas morning you can bet I will be missing my hubs’ family too.
Isn’t it amazing the beautiful mosaics God makes when families merge? Blessings to you and yours!
Shaunna, You have such an amazing family! What a bunch of little hams:). These pictures are priceless!!
What a wonderful way of expressing the event of marriage! It is a “joining” of all those you love and the things that have molded you into who you are! No, no two families are alike and thank goodness for that or we’d all be bored to death. Thank you for sharing your family with all of us! The photos are beautiful!
Love all the pics and the sentiments. I’m with you Shaunna, sentimental stuff (and sometimes non-sentimental) makes me teary. I’m always the one that seems to be crying for no reason. :o) The pj’s the kids are wearing are absolutely adorable. You woulnd’t happen to know where they came from would you?
I don’t, Karen, but I’ll sure find out!!
🙂
shaunna
Love the pictures, hug them when they are young, they don’t like it much as they get older.