So much to be thankful for!

Less than a week after our little girl turned 9 months old, we gathered for our first Thanksgiving as a family. We've had a lot of family firsts over these 9 months, and there are plenty more to come, but this one was pretty special. Although Christmas will surely be the most noteworthy holiday for us, I like to think that Thanksgiving is the most family-focused. No gifts, no decorations, no nauseating songs, just good food and lots of relatives. And pumpkin roll.

Miranda started her vacation the previous Thursday, so we'd had lots of great time together by Thanksgiving, which was very nice. When the day came, we got up early, as usual. After a delicious homemade apple tart breakfast, Miranda and I decided to try starting a new family tradition: watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I've seen parts of it, but never watched the whole thing. That didn't change. Turns out, the broadcast of the parade contains very little actual parade footage. Maybe they show more later in the broadcast, but we didn't stick around to find out. We were so bored with the filler "entertainment" that we all decided to take a nap.

Then, of course, we skipped lunch to prepare for the coming feast. Once we were all packed up and ready to go, we headed down to Morgan Hill for the annual gathering at Uncle Danny and Aunt Patty's house. It was a classic scene: relatives that hardly ever see each other, football on TV, and a turkey in the oven. After a couple hours of talking and drinking, dinner began around 4. Nothing says Thanksgiving like 2 dozen people sitting at a table (or in our case, 3 tables) to share an amazing meal. This year, we got to bring a new addition to the group!

Now that Hayley is 9 months old, she can have meat, so she got her first taste of turkey. Turns out she would rather just eat the sweet potato pie:



Much like many of the adults, she enjoyed an after-dinner drink, then passed out:




In all seriousness, I think our first Thanksgiving with our baby girl was a great success. We had a wonderful time, and there really is so much to be thankful for: a loving family (immediate and extended), good friends, a safe home, nice weather and a big TV. What I am most thankful for is this: not only is Hayley alive and thriving, she seems to be a genuinely happy baby. As Miranda said, that's what we wanted most for her.