Thanksgiving Praises!

Thanksgiving Day morning - my girl and me!

Thanksgiving came...and went! All-in-all...I think I did surprisingly well for my first Thanksgiving as a new widow.

We traveled about 3 1/2 hours away to enjoy the festivities with friends. With only one exception that I can recall (last year), we've spent Thanksgiving with the Hampson family every single year since 2003. We've created many Thanksgiving traditions throughout that time, but in recent years...our lineup has looked something like this...

Wednesday evening - Travel and arrive at the Hampson home. Unpack and laugh, laugh, laugh.

Thursday morning - Chris and Brett rise at the crack of dawn to go hunting. Kandi, Leah, and the other "womenfolk" start working on the food festivities. After returning from the "big hunt" - Chris and Brett would head for the newspaper run. Gotta get their gals the sales ads! We also have the Macy's T-giving Day parade playing in the background.

Thursday early afternoon - EAT!!! And football!

Thursday late afternoon - Chris and Brett would go out hunting again. The ladies head to Michael's - (up until this year) one of the few stores opened BEFORE Black Friday. We have specific things we look for every single year at Michael's but not without our coupons handy!

Thursday evening - Eat more. Play games. Crash early to be able to get up pre-dawn for Black Friday shopping.

Friday morning - Men head to the woods for more hunting (and hopefully "finding"). Women head to the stores for hunting of their own (bargain hunting, that is).

Friday evening - Games and laughter! Early to bed after a long day of hunting and shopping!

Saturday morning - Head home to start decorating for Christmas!

This year looked similar to years prior with the biggest exception - NO Chris!

--Brett hunted alone.

--Kandi went for the newspaper run.

--I watched Chris' favorite NFL team (Green Bay Packers) beat the Detroit Lions without him.

--Upon waking (alone) in my bed, the first person I spoke to that morning was the Lord, my new husband.

We spoke of Chris often. We laughed over funny memories we shared with my "Superman". But, it was evident. We all missed him.

I never had a full blown "meltdown" - praise God for that! I shed many tears in private, but all-in-all I was able to smile quite a bit. This would have been completely impossible with the prayers of so many people. Boy - I know that too well!

I'm so thankful God carried me through this special day, and I continue to pray for more of the same all the days leading up through Christmas. That was always Chris' favorite holiday!

I miss him more now than ever it seems!