Let's Keep Giving, Thanks

This year marked the first Thanksgiving of my entire family being together, so you can imagine the level of excitement that such a day held.

It began with preparations,

hanging out in the kitchen

while waiting for others to arrive.

Then,

the table set and waiting,

we made our way around it.

 We passed the food,

gathered it to our plates.

And then,

 we promptly cleaned those plates,

and gathered the moments to ourselves.

We had to take a break then,

so the men lounged,

the grandparents played,

the siblings cleaned the kitchen.

Then there was time to let the food settle,

 talk to someone you hadn't had the chance to in a while,

play with Grandma & P-Pa's toys.

Soon we found ourselves at the table again though,

 for pie,

and surprise birthday celebrations.

Uncle Dave and Daniela bonded over candle-blowing 

[both actual and simulated],

 and then we just hung out, 

enjoying each other

and the moments of cute thrown in by our littlest one.

 Then there was more catching up,

 more cute,

 some fierce competition,

even more cute.

And,

 although no one actually ate the birthday cake,

at least the mystery of why the Graham Cracker Cream Pie turned green was solved by the end of the night.

[???]

All together, a gift we gave each other.

Let's keep giving it kids--

let's give it with many thanks.