Not Our Usual Thanksgiving

This year was not our usual Thanksgiving holiday. We are usually trekking to Hedley, Tulia, or Tahoka for a traditional family Thanksgiving with Shane's aunts on his Daddy's side -- although last year's trip was the mother of all trips. For those of you who never heard the tale of our 2007 Thanksgiving trip, please allow me to retell the tale.

It was a Wednesday before Thanksgiving, like all other Wednesdays before Thanksgiving. My loving husband thought it would be a great idea to surprise his aunts with our arrival. Yes, you heard me correctly. I said SURPRISE his aunts with our family of five's arrival to their Thanksgiving feast. I tried to get him to call but to no avail. So I loaded up desserts that would keep for a day so that we didn't show up empty-handed. We headed to Clarendon, TX, to spend the night at the Best Western and let our kids enjoy the indoor pool and hot tub. We had a wonderful night -- lots of fun family time. We woke up Thursday morning, ate breakfast, and headed into Hedley to Aunt Betty Jo's house for lunch. As we pulled on to Betty Jo's street, I noticed there weren't very many cars in front of her house; in fact, there weren't ANY cars in front of her house. So I calmly asked my husband, "Are you sure Thanksgiving is at Betty Jo's this year?" I only asked because they rotate each year between the three sisters' homes. Shane assured me that it was to be held in Hedley. So we go to the front door and knock. No answer. We knock again. No answer.

Shane thinks maybe they moved it to Rhonda's (Betty Jo's daughter) home. So even though Shane hasn't "technically" been to her house since 1994ish, he is sure that he can find it in a town with no street signs. We go down a dirt road, take a right, wind around for a while, and stop in front of Rhonda's house....he thinks. Shane, a litle apprehensively, makes his way to the front door. Now mind you this is in the country in Texas....not really sure if a shotgun weilding person might be answering the door or not. Shane knocks. No answer. He knocks again. No answer. He gets back in the car and we find the (one and only) gas station. Thankfully, it's open. Shane goes in to get Betty Jo's number because, of course, it would've made too much sense to bring it with us just in case we needed it. Shane calls -- no answer. He gets Rhonda's number no answer. The lady running the store just happened to know Rhonda's mother-in-law's number. Maybe they're there. Shane calls and gets Rhonda's husband. He proceeds to tell Shane that Betty Jo and Rhonda decided to drive to Amarillo to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the Cracker Barrel. What to do now?

Shane calls his mom to see if she happens to have Aunt Betty Jo's cell number. She does. We call and find out that she and Rhonda decided to eat in Amarillo because the other sisters, Peggy and Irma Jean, were having Thanksgiving in Tulia, Texas. Peggy's grandson was in the hospital, and she didn't want to be away from home. Shane then calls Peggy, and of course, they insist that we come to Tulia. Well, it's only another hour-and-a-half away. We get back in the car, and I'm cracking up by this point. Amazingly enough, our three kids have been almost angelic.

We begin the trek to Tulia. About 45 minutes into the drive, we arrive upon Caprock Canyon. Shane begins to tell me how he used to stop there and shout into the canyon. I suggested we stop and let the kids experience this too! We get out and it truly was a beautiful experience. The kids were amazed and had lots of fun shouting out and hearing their echos. Before we left I suggested that we take some pics. I got some great shots. We get back in the car and head to Tulia.

About 25 minutes down the road, I notice my husband frantically searching for something. I asked him what he left -- sunglasses. Now I'm not talking about the Wal-Mart kind. I'm talking some expensive sunglasses. So what's a family to do? We turn around to go get them of course. 25 miles later we find them on the picnic table where he left them. So we're off to Tulia again!

We finally arive in Tulia (an hour later than expected)! From there the day went great! We had a great late lunch, went back to Hedley for a brief visit with Betty Jo and Rhonda, and then headed back home.

So fast forward to Thanksgiving 2008...there would definitely be no "surprises" this year. Due to Shane's basketball schedule, we were unable to travel anywhere so we had Thanksgiving lunch with my family, headed home to put up lights and the tree, then headed back to my family's for dinner. Then it was off to bed for my 4:00 am shopping excursion...but that's another story altogether!

I've attached some pics of the boys on the roof helping Dad put up lights, the kids decorating the tree, and of course, the famous Caprock Canyon picture.