We made a pre-Thanksgiving trip up to North Carolina this past weekend, and spent a nice four days with Jarrett's family. We met with my brother briefly in Belmont as we passed through, and grabbed lunch and handed off Merckx so he could drop the dog off at my parents' house, but other than that, we did not see my family at all. My parents are going to make the trip down here early Thursday morning and will spend Thanksgiving Day and the day after here with us. This is the second year in a row that we have avoided the Thanksgiving traffic, and I cannot tell you how fabulous it feels not to have to deal with the stress and high blood pressure that has come about in so many years past. We made the drive Thursday with ease, and arrived at Jarrett's mom's house mid-afternoon. Later that evening, after going out and doing some grocery shopping (mainly for Elsa), we met up with Jarrett's siblings and mom back at the house, and also met Jarrett's youngest brother's (Jonathan's) girlfriend, Michelle (one of the main reasons we made the trip when we did). We all enjoyed a delicious takeout NC BBQ dinner together, and spent the evening being wild and crazy, as usual.
On Friday morning we ran out and grabbed biscuits from our favorite High Point biscuit establishment and took them over to Jarrett's grandparents' house so we could spend some time chatting with them. Later in the afternoon, everyone was either working or just out and about, so we fed Elsa a snack and then headed over to spend a little time with Jarrett's dad and Susan. Elsa had a fabulous time playing with Susan's set of Russian nesting dolls and a trio of mini loaf pans and cooking utensils, and us adults had a lovely time catching up a bit. We had made plans with Jonathan, Michelle, Stephen, and Bethany to go out for Thai that night upon Jonathan's suggestion, and when we all met up at the house, we found out it was really going to be a celebration dinner -- because Jonathan proposed to Michelle that afternoon! Jarrett's mom stayed home while Elsa slept, and all us kids enjoyed a really yummy meal out together, complete with a toast to Jonathan and Michelle and the very exciting future that is in store for them.
Saturday was spent primarily over at Jarrett's dad's house for a chili lunch with all the siblings. Elsa took an extraordinarily long nap while we were there, allowing for a delightful amount of downtime. I read up on some e.e. cummings and an Appalachian Trail through-hiker's guide and tried to take a nap, which, as usual, did not amount to much. The kids, Jarrett's mom, and Cousin Robert, all went out to dinner that evening while Jarrett and I stayed behind to take care of Elsa and get her down for bed. They were kind enough to bring us back some dinner, and we spent another evening around the dining room table, chatting up a storm.
On Sunday before we left, we were able to see Jarrett's Grandmom Helms in her new residence there in High Point, and also were able to swing by his other grandparents' house one last time. This was the first trip in quite awhile where both Jarrett and I felt we were able to spend an adequate and fair amount of time with all of the family. It was a really nice feeling as we headed home to know that we saw everyone and to really not feel too run down or overwhelmed. It was a great trip, even despite Elsa's continued dislike of long car rides. But, as I've said before, who can blame her? That stretch of 85 is such a boring one. Thankfully she slept around two hours on the drive back, and our
Five Guy's rest stop seemed to help all of us out for at least some of the remaining drive.
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