Thanksmas Extravaganza

This past weekend was Thanksmas 2007. If you're raising an eyebrow from reading the word "Thanksmas", don't worry, I will explain myself. A few years ago, my sister, Callie, was trying to think of a way that we could spend time with our dad without being stressed out trying to divide time between our mom, our dad, our own families that we are creating as we speak (type), our in-laws and our out-laws.



And Heavenly Father told her to invent Thanksmas. It's a little bit of Thanksgiving mixed with a little bit of Christmas and it's a third winter holiday intended to be celebrated with family. We celebrate it with our dad. It's always scheduled so that it never falls on a day that we can't gather together. My dad always generously flies out so that all of us don't have to fly to him in North Richland Hills, Texas.



This year was especially special because our step-mom, Nancy, came with her grand-daughter, Shandrelle along with our Uncle Bluce (because Callie couldn't say 'Bruce' when she was three), Aunt Robin, Cousin Kinzie, Grandpa Dee and the entire UT gang (along with special guest, Logan Hull - Catie's boyfriend - so special that he even got a family t-shirt - see image and imagine 24 of us in matching red t-shirts with even the babies in matching red onesies).



Thanksmas just keeps getting better and better. It's all about love and family and food and spending time together. At our Thanksmas meal, we each go around the table and tell things that we are grateful for and this year, my favorite was listening to Uncle Bluce talk about the power of love (that phrase is forever ruined by Celine Deon, but allow me to use the phrase without having the song get in the way). He talked about how love had motivated him to change. His love for his family was what brought him to be better and to try to be the best he can be for them. It was so touching.

Shout out for Thanksmas and shout out for families and shout out for love. This is what life is all about.