I hope you Mamas and your families had a “Happy Thanksgiving!” I love the time to sit around the table with friends and family and eat yummy food!

Wednesday night My son was sick with a 102° temperature and a yucky cough. To say the least, I was a bit anxious about what Thursday would hold for us. I had scheduled myself to teach online from 4:30-7:00 am. Thoughts of “Would my 5 month old daughter get sick? Would my son be up during the night? Would I get any sleep? Would we have to cancel our plans?” ran through my head simultaneously as I rested on my pillow.

Thankfully his temp broke in the middle of the night, and he slept well from midnight to 7 am. Lil never got sick, praise God! When I woke up Thursday morning, I found time to teach, run, shower, wash my hair (Mama win), clean…all with the help of my best Babes!

We have the pleasure of living near both my parents and my husband’s parents. (Can we say, “free babysitters?”) Thanksgiving is one of the many holidays we share, and this year we had it going on! This Mama did not have to cook, minus a side kale salad. I’m so thankful for my mom and mother-in-law who prepared the food for everyone!

Pre-kids, one thing I looked forward most after the Thanksgiving meal, was a nice long nap on the couch. This year, I and the kiddos both napped in the car in between celebrations. This is my typical fall-asleep-anywhere-anytime posture.

As life gets fuller, I’m finding it’s so easy to get caught up in the going here and there and preparing for the holidays, that we forget to pause and take a moment to give thanks.

Every year since as far back as I can remember, we would each take turns and share our favorite thanksgiving food and one thing we were thankful for. This year, I decided to add a little something festive to our ritual.

I recently found this awesome resource: Tree of Thanks. Aiden helped me gather sticks and rocks to make our centerpiece. I traced and cut out some leaves with construction paper, and voila! An easy thanksgiving masterpiece was created. On the day of, I asked people to write what they were thankful for on a leaf and decorate the tree with it.

How was your holiday, Mama? What are you thankful for? What food did you enjoy most?

I know it may sound cliche, but I am truly thankful for my family. And hands down, my Grandma Julie’s orange rolls are what I look forward to every year!