Life in the Clark Lane: Sunday Snapshot: Thanksgiving Edition

I love Thanksgiving. It's such a wonderful holiday, perfectly placed between Halloween and Christmas. The buildup to Halloween with all the costumes and decorations lasted the entire month of October. And then post Halloween, we're stuck with a mountain of candy that we don't want the little ones eating for days on end. As much as I love Christmas, the commercialism surrounding it these days is insane. The emails about pre-pre-Black Friday shopping started at least two weeks ago, and we will continue to be bombarded with all these great "deals" until the last possible minute. There is a lot I love about Christmas, like our simple Christmas traditions, but I'll save those for a later post.

I spent my 15th Thanksgiving with Jim's family this year! I was 20 years old when I first started going to Villanova for Thanksgiving with Jim, back when we had just started dating in college. Now, we show up with four little ones of our own, and while the dynamics of the day have certainly changed, the day is still a day about family. There are no presents or costumes. There is nothing materialistic about it. There are grandparents and aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and cousins (lots of them...12 little cousins, ranging from 8 years old to not even 3 months old). For the last 9 years, someone has been pregnant at Thanksgiving, and this year was no exception. Sarah is due to have baby #2 on March 18--Hannah's birthday. The cousins adore being together. Lilly (6 years old) talks about how much she loves AJ (8) and Lauren (7) daily. Jack (4) and Paul (almost 5) are starting to be buddies. Hannah (2) keeps telling us that she's "in love with Brookie (1) and Meredif (3) and Julia (almost 2)"...the group of little girl cousins so close in age that it's going to be hard to tell them apart down the road.

This year, we went up to Sarah and Ross' house in Marshfield, MA and as hard as it is to change traditions, at the end of the day, everyone loved being together. Who you are with is much more important than where you are, especially when you're with people that you love. The food was delicious, the beer, wine, mimosas, bloody mary's, pomegranate martinis, (insert any drink name here...) were free flowing. We got to meet our newest nephews, Luke and Will who are just three months old but growing like champions. Funny to think that next Thanksgiving, Eliza and these two little boys will be running around!

Here is our week in photos.