As I mentioned earlier, Adam and I spent Thanksgiving this year with my family in Lake Charles, LA. We started our traveling on Wednesday with some trepidation about the high volume of travelers - but we were pleasantly surprised with how organized and efficient Dulles airport was! There were hordes of employees in orange gear flagging us to our parking spot, and a bus was idling right next to us so we didn't have to wait to get to the terminal. Kudos to Dulles!

Once in Houston we grabbed our rental car and began the trek along Highway 10 into Louisiana. After a scenic tour of downtown Houston (there were some "issues" with the directions I printed out), we eventually found ourselves moving in the right direction, and made it to Lake Charles in about three hours. My parents, the brother, and the dog all rolled in a bit later that day.

And thus began two days of pure digestive indulgence - we started off with dinner at Harlequin on Wednesday night, followed by a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast prepared by my ever-talented grandmother (Meemaw). There was turkey, gravy, two kinds of dressing, sweet potatoes, green beans, bread, homemade cranberry sauce and spiced apples. And, of course, to-die-for desserts: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pumpkin roll, and handmade dark chocolate truffles dusted with cocoa powder (which, I know from experience, taste just as good at breakfast as they do at lunch!).

In addition to the traditional football-watching, I also got a chance to take a walk around the neighborhood with my grandparents and let Tucker explore all the new smells. I also spent a several enjoyable hours piecing together my quilt, while my mom worked on sewing her entry for Loobylu's November Month of Softies project. I even got to name him! On Thursday night we all sat down to watch Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney in the 1954 classic, White Christmas, which will soon be added to my collection of Christmas movies.

After breakfast on Friday morning, Granded took some of us out for a driving tour of Lake Charles, including a turn through the old Chennault Air Force Base. We had lunch at the local hot spot Tony's Pizza, and then we hopped on the road back to Houston!

It was a short trip, but it was still wonderful to spend quality time with my family for a few days. And I was excited to be able to share the holiday with Adam for the first time! So now we've officially ushered in the Christmas season, and I'm busily preparing decorations and presents and projects galore. Is it any wonder this is my favorite time of the year?? :)