Christmas in November

This past weekend, Matt, Jer (Matt's brother) and I made the long drive out to Michigan to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Hendricks and Vermeulens (Matt's Aunt and Uncle).  We set out early Wednesday morning and drove straight to Detroit so we could take part in the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, aka Thanksgiving Eve, festivities with all of Matt and Jer's cousins.  We had a great time, the 2 hour sleep the previous night and the 10 hour drive right before we went out didn't even slow us down.  Matt and I ended the night with his cousin Maureen and her husband, J, at a Denny's along with quite a few other interesting characters celebrating Thanksgiving Eve.  All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful night!

The next day, Thanksgiving, was wonderful as usual.  This year I had an abundance of things to be thankful for.  First of all, of course, for my wonderful husband and our fabulous families who helped give us a spectacular and extremely memorable wedding.  For my brother's health, he's finally starting to feel a little bit normal again and for my Grandpa's strength to pull through an emergency lung surgery the day before.  I love you all!!!

After many wonderful hours of eating lot's of yummy food, we finally made our way back to Battle Creek (Cereal City - Home to Kellogs and Post FYI) and spent some well needed time with my in-laws.  On a little bit of a side note, I really don't like calling them my "in-laws," it has such a negative connotation, and even if I wasn't "legally" bound to these folks, I would still want to be a part of their family, they're fabulous!!  From here on out they will be referred to as Mom and Dad II.  Anyway, we have made it a new tradition with Mom and Dad II to celebrate our own little "Michigan Christmas" the day after Thanksgiving.  Since they are so unbelievably understanding and Matt loves his sunshiney Decembers, we have been able to go to California for Christmas every year we have been together, hence the need for a Michigan Christmas.  I would have to say, the favorite gift of the day was the "Snuggie" we got for Matt's mom!  We were all fighting over the cozy thing the rest of the weekend.

The other "Top Prize" of the day....Dale and I played Tetris the rest of the weekend!

Maggie Lu had a Merry Michigan Christmas too!