The Chronicles of the Briscoe Thanksgiving

It started on a lovely Monday. It was a inconspicuous kind of day, but it was this day that the heater in my car started going in and out. No big deal, right? It's just the heater, and we have another car we could travel in up to Michigan. Except...oh wait...it is a tiny sedan with a dog, a baby, all the Christmas presents, and a VERY pregnant lady who doesn't want elephantiasis again. So, there was no way I was going to do such a long trip in such a short amount of time in a tiny uncomfortable car...not when I've been spoiled by my mini van. No way Jose!

So, we prayed really hard that everything would be ok, but we pretty much count on car trouble any time we go visit family because it happens more often than not unfortunately. SO, thus began our Thanksgiving journey early that Tuesday morning. The plan...to get to Indianapolis early afternoon and spend the night at my parents house, leaving the next morning early for Thanksgiving with the Briscoes. What really happened? We were in the middle of nowhere Illinois (Kinmundy, IL to be exact...population 800...restaurants 0...at lunch time with a very ready-to-be-done baby).

It was the only auto shop within 20 miles. However, they found the problem that 3 other mechanics failed to find, so we counted it as a tender mercy. The part we needed was no where to be found in nowhere Illinois, so they charged us out the wazoo, filled us up with antifreeze, and told us to make sure we fix it in Indianapolis. So that is just what we did. Booya! So, numerous phone calls later, we found a part and a mechanic, and we were prepared to fix the car.

Thus began the vacation part of our vacation as we celebrated with the missionaries over for dinner at my parents house. The cousins played, we chatted a bunch, and we went to bed to dream of dancing sugar plum fairies. The next day, we dropped off the van, visited some more, and Grammy and Grandpa got Emma an early Christmas present. Drum roll please...a forward facing car seat. Emma was in love from the moment we put her in it. She stretched her legs out, danced around, and chatted with us...incessantly. :) She also got a Veggie Tales Christmas book that plays "Away in a Manger," which Emma played for about 2 hours straight. She was in love with that one too. Needless to say, we were happy to have a happy baby on board. We left around noon for Michigan and were blessed with no more car problems.

In Michigan, we had lots of good food, good talks, some Black Friday shopping, and good movies. Emma and her other cousin had lots of fun together...well, Emma kept trying to take everything Tenley was playing with. Tenley didn't seem to care much, but Emma sure cared when we told her she couldn't take toys. That was fun. Terrible twos anyone?

It was as good as ever to see family. I still got elephantiasis, but luckily it wasn't too bad. I've decided that traveling in your 3rd trimester is ALWAYS a bad idea, but it was worth it.

After an uneventful ride home--well, I did manage to convince Dustin that we needed to go shopping at Ikea...that is always worth noting--we went grocery shopping and went to bed. Can I just say how grateful I am for my bed. It is so soft and cozy and squishy. Plus, it is like a billion feet off the ground, so i just roll right off into a standing position, which I dearly love. This pregnancy has been extremely uncomfortable and even painful, and it's little things like a tall comfy bed that make life awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving!!