A Bittersweet Thanksgiving....

This year we had a low-key Thanksgiving. Life has been a little hectic lately, for all of our families. We have had several changes and a few sad times, so we didn't much feel like a big celebration. Don't get me wrong...I still feel like I have so much to be thankful for and we actually did end up having a pretty good weekend. It was just a little bittersweet.

Our week started with some bad news. My Great-Granny Hyatt passed away on Tuesday. She was 92 years old but was still completely independent. She lived on her own, was still driving, loved to sing with her singing group, and was a fiery little lady. She had a few minor health problems but nothing major. So, it was kind of a shock when she just died in her sleep. We had visitation on the Friday after Thanksgiving and the funeral on Saturday. She was a sweet lady and will definitely be missed by all....

Another big change that has happened recently is that my parents have recently decided to down-size and have put thier house on the market. Since my Dad has been working from home a lot lately, they decided to be snowbirds and stay at thier condo at the beach while it sells. It has been a little strange but we are getting used to it. Especially because my Dad got all of us kids web-cams and set us up with Skype. It's still not the same but at least we can look at each other while we talk.

Since they were at the beach, they made the long journey home on Thansgiving day so we had a late Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother's house. I didn't take any pictures but I did steal this one of us girls from my sister's blog....

(We had Thanksgiving lunch earlier that day with Mark's parents but, like I said, I didn't take any pictures.)

It was overall a pretty good day but all of our hearts were heavy with the loss of Granny Hyatt. This was really the only time of year that we saw her and it felt really strange to not spend Thanksgiving with her.

I decided to try to have some fun over the weekend so the next day, my sister and I decided to participate in the Black Friday madness! We got up at 4:00am and headed to K-mart to try and grab some of those great deals. Here is what we saw when we pulled up.....

YIKES!!!

The line was SO LONG and it was RAINING and FREEZING!!! We sat in our car for a few minutes but then decided to tough it out in line....



We ended up getting a few good deals there and went to several other places that day. It was fun and we actually got a lot of shopping done. Thank goodness because Santa is a little busy these days....if you know what I mean!  ;)

Like I said before, it was a bitterswet holiday weekend for us but we managed to make the best out of it. It really makes you think about all that we have to be thankful for when you lose a loved one. I am especially thankful to have a great family, healthy children, great friends and a wonderful husband!