Happy Thanksgiving

It started out the way every cold, windy, wet Thanksgiving should... Pierce and I bundled up on the couch in our pjs watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while Peter took the hooligans to the ward Turkey Bowl. And then they came home....
We had to pause the parade recording, start some serious laundry and provide the traditional Cothran lunch of cheese, crackers and deviled eggs along with the traditional Graeme snickerdoodles before we could restart the parade, this time with everyone watching, including those who can come up with 1,001 ways to make fun of marching bands, marching band uniforms, marching band names, marching band music... you get the idea....
Some people just can't take the marching bands at all and the broadway musical cast performances of various stage "favorites" sends them in search of a good book.... but, I have to admit, it really is a good book... and it's nice to see Peter reading something he doesn't have to grade for a midshipman.
Left to their own devices, the hooligans went tribal and broke out Settlers of Catan. This made us miss the cousins for at least the 10th time out of 30 in one day.
I beat them all while cooking the turkey and ham and pulling the toddler off the table repeatedly. Pierce and I walked Ranger while we gloated. And then it was time for dinner.
After much cajoling, we managed to get the hooligans to come up with a reasonably long list of people and things they are thankful for that begin with the letter J (for Joyce, of course), most especially Jesus Christ and Johns Hopkins. We were also all very grateful.....
that Pierce slept through the entire dinner, giving us the requisite peace and quiet for candlelit cajoling and list making. He did wake up in time for dessert!
... which we all agreed was delicious. Way to go Reilly on making the pumpkin pie! You might think that was the perfect end of a Thanksgiving Day... but one more essential delight was yet to occur....
...watching the Horns whoop A&M, staying undefeated and right on track for a national championship bid in January. Maybe that's what Pierce is asking the big guy for this year...
Or maybe he's asking Santa why he didn't join us for the morning-after USNA 5K Turkey Trot?! Hmmmm. And... YES, we had to bribe the hooligans with milkshakes just to get them anywhere near the mall Santa. And... NO, there is not a photo. BUT, as we turn the calendar page, may we be among the first to wish you unseasonably warm weather for hanging your Christmas wreaths and say that it most certainly is okay if pizza already sounds better than a cold turkey sandwich!

Live, Love, Laugh... and then do the laundry.