We arrived in Russellville the day before Thanksgiving after a really (REALLY) long car ride which Dresden did fantastically on, probably better than Alex or I, ha! If only we had a camera shooting at all times, there would be a picture below of what happened that night while we ate pizza for dinner. As there was not, I shall have to paint you a picture with words as best I can. Dresden was running around, "eating on the run" as I have come to call it, wreaking general havoc in the kitchen when Alex stood up to get himself another piece of pizza from the middle of the table. It was as if a slow motion video began to play right before my eyes, as I saw Dresden pull his father's folding chair from its current position, thus causing said folding chair to, well, fold, as its namesake would have it do, flat on the floor as Dresden pulled it down...Words could not part my lips fast enough to say "Alex...don't sit down!" So, he went to sit where he thought his chair should be, and fell with a thud next to his fallen chair, as the cheese and various other toppings flew COMPLETELY off the top of the slice of pizza he held. He landed with the pizza crust perfectly intact, but his pride was off with the melted cheese flung halfway across the room. Dresden meanwhile must have been watching in the same slow-motion time as me, and was likely completely befuddled, and burst into tears as the room once again entered real-time and the commotion to make sure Alex was okay began. The little mischief maker scared himself silly with his little stunt. I still cannot think about it without laughing. But oh to have pictures!
God must have known that was about all the excitement we could handle, for after the Great Thanksgiving Eve Pizza Debacle, things returned to their regular Russelvillian-like (read: watching paint dry on walls) pace. (Hence the bevy of frivolous turkey shirt pictures we took to entertain ourselves). I helped Mom do the prep work for the meal the next day, and then we went to bed where I was roused every so often by the infernal temperatures at which my Grandmother keeps her house (80 degrees is not much of an exaggeration) into a delirious state which made me confused about where I actually was and which direction on my bed I was sleeping. The next morning I tried to interest Dresden in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but he was about as interested as the rest of my family has always been (here, read: not one iota). And so we ventured out into the cold and rain to take pictures, and wait for the meal to finish cooking (don't judge - my grandmother has what we call a "one butt" kitchen, so it kind of turns into a "one butt" job). Here are some pictures of the Turkey Day carnage:
Mmmm, turkey carcass!
Dresden's "First (real) Thanksgiving" meal
Loved it!
We spent the rest of the afternoon letting Dresden run around Wal-mart because there's really nothing else to do in Russellville ever when it's cold and rainy outside. Needless to say, Santa got a few ideas that afternoon!
The next day it was off on a big day-long adventure to Fayetteville to see Dresden's great aunts/my aunts and Poppy/Dresden's great-grandpa. It was a nap-less day, which I have no idea how we pulled off, but it was fun. And Dresden got to see his cousin Ezra again for the first time since last Christmas.
MB the Great playing with Dresden - so cute.
He's very into block stacking right now. I call it honing his budding architectural genius.
"Drezra" - two cute cousins
These two, one year ago!
Dresden with Grammy, Great-Grandpa, Jackie the Great, and MB the Great
Before leaving to head back to Russellville, we went to the military cemetery in Fayetteville to bring Grandma some flowers. This was our first Thanksgiving without her here with us. Around the holidays, well, always really, Grandma always set the best tables for family dinners. Worthy family gatherings are always memorable by the sheer number of all of us that gather together, but I especially remember Grandma's attention to detail with the meal itself, down the the perfect complimentary table cloth depending upon the season.
We spent one more day in Russellville, which included a visit to one more special person who isn't with us anymore, my Grandad Goin, at McFadden Cemetery. I was so glad to get to visit there finally; I had never gone. But not to end on the macabre, we ran around outside some more, and Dresden helped Grammy sweep the driveway of the house, while simultaneously working on calling the Hogs (Wooo, Pig, Sooie!). He doesn't have it down yet, but I'm hoping maybe by Christmas, ha!
Now, we are back to Texas, and onto a new chapter of our lives, with Alex starting his new job today!!! I'd write a whole other post about today right now if I hadn't been up since 5 a.m. with a toddler whose schedule is all messed up because of his Arkansas trip. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to it. All in all, it was a fun, full, yummy, busy Thanksgiving, and we wouldn't have had it any other way!
This shirt from Grandma and Grandpa LaFasto about sums it up!
(that is to say, "our cup runneth over"!)
We hope y'all had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday and are as excited about Christmas as we are! We started decorating tonight - yay!!! I apologize profusely for the verboseness of this post, I promise to (most-likely try to) never do it again! Maybe ;-)
Have a great night, be back again soon.
Love,
Cassie, Alex and Dresden
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