thanksgiving.

we had such a wonderful thanksgiving week, so i thought i would share. the saturday before thanksgiving, we flew into chattanooga where my parents picked us up and brought us to their house in athens. emily anne drove up from auburn the same day. that evening we went to the "downtown old fashioned christmas" celebration in athens. mary claire had so much fun! we saw santa and his reindeer, watched dancers perform, walked through a petting zoo, and enjoyed funnel cakes, which are my personal favorite! once we got home, we got to watch ole miss defeat lsu (l s who?)....hotty toddy!!!

the following day, we drove to gatlinburg where we spent the remainder of the week in a 7 bedroom cabin in the mountains complete with pool table, arcade games, air hockey, hot tubs, etc. we were so blessed to be able to spend the week with a rather large amount of my mother's side of the family. (Uncle Jim, Aunt Camille, Mary and Robert Marshall; Mom, Dad, Keith, and Emily Anne Kennedy; Michelle, Scotty, Hal, James, and Loudon Scott; Patrick and Jason Kennedy-Wahn; Uncle Robert Marshall; Uncle John Marshall; Uncle Terry, Aunt Pri, Alex, T.J., Todd, Kelly, Katie, and Caroline Danner; and a family friend of the Danners, Mason.) the drive to the cabin was very beverly hillbillies-esque . imagine five people, one car, five suit cases, and a weeks worth of food and supplies for 30 people from sam's. the week included lots of hiking, shopping, horse back riding, aquarium visiting, game playing (i always won of course), and just spending quality time together as a family.

on thanksgiving day, we made the traditional turkeys out of oreos, icing, peanut butter, whoppers, red hots, and candy corn. mary claire participated less in making turkeys and way more in eating the pieces. oddly enough, red hots were her favorite!

that evening we had a delicious meal consisting of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, mac-n-cheese, cranberry jelly, rolls, and a plethora of pies for dessert. the kids gathered leaves, twigs, and berries for decorating the tables, and the danner girls made place cards and assigned the seats. the following evening we ate leftovers, which ended in dan and i being dubbed "potato pancake king and queen", due to his excellent potato pancake making skills. he even made a green bean casserole pancake which scotty and keith all thoroughly enjoyed...haha. of course, this resulted in our names being changed to "green bean casserole pancake king and queen". i'm pretty aunt pri was the one who came up with such clever names.

we were very sad to part ways with everyone at the end of the week, but hopefully we will all get together again soon. the only thing that could make it better would be if Uncle Mike Marshall and his family, Aunt Sarah Marshall, and Amanda and her family would be able to join us as well! next, we have christmas with dan's family to look forward to!