The Shroyer Family: Thankful

Thanksgiving was such a fun day this year for us! We really had a great day at my parents enjoying the food, drinking coffee, making crafts, and just spending time as a family. Some holidays you just aren't sure how it is going to go, but you go with a smile hoping for the best. I'm sure everyone is like this, but this year I knew it was going to be a great day from the moment I woke up. I look forward to my dad's stuffing all year long! That was our thing when I was a little girl, I loved helping him make it. Now that I'm older, he makes sure that I'm still connected through video chat and that warms my heart. So, I was pretty excited to get up there and get some of that in my belly! Yes, the older I get the more sentimental I'm becoming. Everything means something to me and I'm finding myself enjoying the moment that much more! We had such a great day that we didn't even get 1 picture though, so I'll need to be sure to get some at Christmas. With how Thanksgiving fell this year, Brenton's family was going to be in Sarasota, so we celebrated with them a couple weeks prior with a tailgate party for the OSU/Rutgers game. We had a fun time and I didn't get 1 picture there either, so I need to get on the ball at Christmas for both sides.

Colin is so funny this time of year anymore! The older he gets he is loving the holidays. Our tradition, is to setup the tree and decorations for Christmas after Thanksgiving. He refers to Thanksgiving as "giving" right now and it's so cute to finally hear him understand. In the early years, I never really knew if he understood, but now I know he does and that's such a great feeling. I like to enjoy the Thanksgiving season to the fullest with our "thankful" tree that I don't like to do any Christmas stuff until after. I love watching Ethan every morning fill out his leaf and add it to our tree. The older he gets it's neat to see what he's thankful for....he gets it too! I just love these boys of mine.

Anyway, Wednesday morning I was off work and got a burr up my butt to rearrange the front room, at 5 am, to get ready for the tree that Friday. I never thought much about it, but that it was done and that it would be much easier come Friday. So, I went upstairs to get Colin ready for school and as he was walking downstairs to eat breakfast I heard it....."Ho Ho" and it hit me! I changed the room around and he knows his Santa goes on the table when I do that. LOL! The problem? Santa was down in the basement, all the way back in the corner of the storage area and not easily accessible to get right then. So, I acknowledged that I knew what he was telling me, but that we'd have to get "Ho Ho" later because he wasn't ready to come out just yet. I did that until Thursday morning and even though I had not 1 box moved out of the storage area, after about the 10th time of him telling me, I knew it was important to him and that I had to get to Santa. I asked Brenton for help and together we found him. The second Colin saw him, he grabbed that "Ho Ho" and went to put him in his rightful place for the season......

I finally did get all the fall decor put away, but "Ho Ho" sat right there until Friday and he fit in better once all the Christmas was put up. Yes, Colin made sure we got the tree in his room, his village, the main tree, Ethan's tree, the decorations put up, and we even went to see the light's on Friday, as well. He loved telling us, "Merry Christmas." It is so fun to watch this all come alive through his eyes! He gets it!!

Anyway, like I said, Thanksgiving was a fun day. We enjoyed the morning with our traditional sweet rolls, the Macy's parade, and my guys enjoyed their special treats I got them, too. Overall, a great start to the holiday season! I'm so very "thankful" for family!