Back Home for Thanksgiving

We arrived back in Nashville on Sunday, November 16th, a full week before Thanksgiving because I was scheduled to serve jury duty that entire week.  Jellystone had assigned us site #806 on the very last row of the campground.  The number of available sites is cut back to about 25% of what it normally is because the rest of the campground is used to create "The Dancing Lights of Christmas."

After getting set up, we went over to my mom's to visit with her plus get caught up on our laundry.  The temperatures got below freezing many of the nights which meant we had to leave our water disconnected a lot.  But mama has great laundry and shower facilities and she kept us very well fed with her delicious home-cooked meals of roast, vegetable soup, and chili.  I think we were getting our stomachs in training for the big meal on Thanksgiving!  :)

Monday morning was my first day of jury duty.  I had planned to ride the bus into town but it was very cold and spitting snow so Chuck drove me to the courthouse.  The picture below is of LP Field where the Tennessee Titans play.  Definitely not the nice 70 and 80 degree sunny weather we had enjoyed in Florida.

Another reason Chuck drove me in was because my back was still hurting when I walked.  The doctor in Decatur had given me a written medical excuse about my back because she said I needed to see an orthopaedic doctor if my back did not get any better.  I hobbled into the courthouse, explained my situation to the juror clerk, and showed her the doctor's excuse.  Thankfully, the doctor's note excused me from jury duty and I shouldn't be called to serve for at least two years.

Chuck's aunt, Anna, had given me the name of an orthopaedic doctor she had been to previously.  Luckily, I was able to get an appointment with him on Tuesday.  After having my back x-rayed and being checked out by the doctor, I received the good news that my spine is fine but I just had a very bad muscle strain in my lower right back.  He gave me some steroid medicine and put me on physical therapy for a couple of weeks.  I am so thankful that I was able to be excused from the jury duty because that allowed me to go to the doctor and the physical therapist and get practically all healed up.  Two weeks later, the pain in my back is almost completely gone!

On Wednesday, we went to Costco.  I knew their multi-grain chips that we liked so much were on sale again plus we wanted another good, cheap lunch!  :)  We found some cute backpacks for the older granddaughters.

We spent the time preceding Thanksgiving running errands like my four physical therapist appointments, getting the oil changed and tires rotated on the Honda, getting the emissions test on the Honda, getting my hair cut and colored, etc.  In addition to the delicious suppers we enjoyed with my mom, we also enjoyed getting together with Donald and Anna and their family for dinner and card games a couple of times before Thanksgiving.

In between all the errands and visiting and good weather and bad weather, we did have a double rainbow one morning at the campground...

...and a beautiful sunset on another evening.  The Dancing Lights of Christmas at the campground are pretty neat but not nearly as cool as a double rainbow and a gorgeous sunset.

Crystal, Grant, Avery and Hannah drove up from Atlanta on Wednesday and stayed with my mom that night but then stayed with us at the camper Thursday and Friday nights.  Tafanie, Cory, Bell, Emmaline and Ruby drove up from Atlanta on Thursday going straight to Jerry and Pam's (Chuck's brother and sister-in-law) where we were all getting together for Thanksgiving.

The granddaughters adjusted pretty well to sleeping in different places and eating in different places at GiGi's...

...and at Aunt Pam's for Thanksgiving...

Aunt Pam gave the older girls some very unusual booster seats (cooking pots) to sit on.  :)

Thanksgiving Day dinner began a little after 12:00 at Jerry and Pam's and as usual there was lots of delicious food with everyone bringing "what they usually bring."

After eating and eating, we all enjoyed laughing and talking,

holding the new babies like Lisa holding little Ruby...

...and Mandy holding Hannah.

And we are blessed to be waiting on more new babies to join our family...like Alex and James' baby that is due in January.

After everyone was completely stuffed, Tafanie and Cory brought out their annual (but newly created) Thanksgiving Day games for the year.  They get more entertaining every year!  Watch:

After the games, Chuck and his brothers Rick and Jerry, snacked just a little bit more on some of the leftover sweets.  :)

Around 4 pm, everyone began saying their good-byes and we headed back over to my mom's Thanksgiving evening.  Chuck and I gave Bell, Avery, and Emmaline the little backpacks we had bought at Costco.  They were a hit!

Then, GiGi (my mom) got out the PlayDoh which was another hit with the older girls.

Little Hannah may be only 6 months old but I think she wanted to play with the PlayDoh too!

GiGi got to hold her youngest great-granddaughter Ruby for a few minutes.  This weekend was the first time she had seen Ruby.

On Friday, Tafanie surprised GiGi with an early Christmas present of the ladies (Tafanie, Crystal, my mom and me) going to see the Rockettes while the men stayed back and watched the five little girls.

The ladies had a very good time and the show was very good.  On Friday night, Tafanie, Cory, Bell and Emmaline and Crystal & Grant and Avery, all went to Opryland Hotel to see the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations...

...while Chuck and I stayed at my mom's and watched Hannah and Ruby.

With all the fun and activities, we were all pretty tired by Saturday.  :)

 
I'd say we have a whole lot to be thankful for.  Wouldn't you agree?  Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!