Thanksgiving Gatherings and Black Friday

This year,  My husband's family celebrated Thanksgiving the Saturday before. We always have such a good time! The guys are gathered around the TV watching college football. And the girls tend to mingle in the kitchen catching up on the latest news.
There is  always laughter. Lots of picture taking. And there are usually shouts of frustration at the TV.
We are a family divided by the Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State. That brings on a whole level of fun all in itself.
And of course there is the amazing food and the dessert bar! My husband literally anticipates this dinner all year  round..lol
I am so blessed  to have wonderful in-laws. It is so amazing that your family can be some of your closest friends!

This is the shirt I made out of Arlee's handprints

     
 Not wanting to share a smile with the camera

 All the kiddos...everyone is happy except my child!

The Gates Girlies, my SILs, and the cute little photo bomber struck again!

 All the girls and the kiddos, can't get the men away from football!

 Carlee-Kate made sweet magnets for all the kids!

It was a great evening!  Arlee was pretty grouchy but other  than that, we had another amazing Thanksgiving.

Sunday our church had its annual program and meal. The children sang a few  songs. While I was leading I noticed Arlee (who is normally in the nursery) jump right up in the middle of all the kids. He sang his little heart out! ( it was more of a scream but so cute!)  I nearly fell out of my seat with shock and laughter, but I was leading the Children's choir  so I did my best to keep it together.  I hope someone took a picture.

Thanksgiving day we spent with my husband's grandparents.  We started this  tradition a few years back.  It is a much smaller group. It's his mom's side of the family.  Arlee enjoys it cause he is the only kid that is usually there,  so he gets all the attention. His granddaddy took him around on the four wheeler and basically he  spent  the day playing in the dirt! It was a beautiful fall day. So most of the time was spent outside!  I tried to get a few pics but the wind was a little crazy.  This was about the best I could get!

Although it's not the best picture. I adore Arlee's laugh. He was cracking up at the wind and my flying hair.
And how sweet are their  matching shirts!

That night I met up with my SILS and we hit up our new Tanger Outlet Mall for Black Friday shopping.  This is another tradition. I literally look forward to this more than the holiday meals,  we have so much fun! We shopped our hearts out and grabbed a bite to eat, did some more damage and called it a night. We hit the stores up again the next morning! We did have one problem. ...we seemed to buy more for ourselves than what was on our Christmas list!! Oops.

It was a great Thanksgiving.  Hard to believe it came and went so quickly.  I was blessed to see all my family this year.  I could not ask for more. 

And that offically ended the Thanksgiving holiday!