when holidays don’t go as planned | thanksgiving: seaside

 

 

---

SWIMSUIT: Target similar below || SKIRT: Bliss Tulle || CUTTING BOARD: Marking Remarks

---

We spent Thanksgiving at the beach this year! We have some family close by but they went out of town, and this past week has been eventful…with Corban getting really sick. He broke out in hives all over his body. When we thought we’d had it under control it would all come back again, and each time stronger and quicker than the last.

So leading up to the day we didn’t get done nearly what we thought we would…and I’m learning more and more that that’s perfectly okay. We wanted to do everything possible to make him more comfortable and to be sure he would get better. We cuddled in bed together and watched movies till the early morning hours, it’s strange, but I honestly do sometimes look forward to caring for my kids when they’re sick. Of course I don’t want them to feel bad, or hurt or suffer…but as he laid his head in my lap to fall asleep my to do list was the last thing on my mind.

I am so thankful to have the chance to be reset once more on what my main priorities are and how I’ll spend my time. Being forced to cut back on the things I thought last week were so important to spend time right by his side was exactly what my heart truly longed for.

We still aren’t sure what caused his reaction, but everything is under control now, without any flair ups today, and we’ll definitely be hoping for some answers as we continue testing.

All of that to say we weren’t exactly prepared for Thanksgiving Day. It was tempting to want to stress out or be sad that nothing was in place.

But how sweet it is to be reminded that our hope is not found in whether or not we plan well for special days.

We decided to come up with a plan that we would all be really excited about and something that would be life giving for everyone.

Thanksgiving this year was a slow, special day and I imagine it’ll be one we’ll build off of in years to come.

There was something so freeing about getting to create this day from scratch exactly how we wanted it with rest and recovery and time together as the main priority. We do love our traditions so we had to include some of those and I’d love to hear what traditions you all do as well. For Thanksgiving:

1. We always make bubble bread…some people call it monkey bread…but the recipe my mom made is seriously the best. After Matt and I were married I used to borrow my mom’s bundt pan so many times that she finally just gave it to me. I probably should get a new one, because the one I have is really old, but I love the nostalgic element to it. The recipe is supposed to be made the night before but with caring for Corban it never even crossed my mind. I woke up just before 6 a.m. and hurried downstairs to try to quicken the dough rising. And it worked! By the time the kids were up it was ready!
2. We always watch the Macy’s Day Parade. We’ve never had cable but we somehow find a way to still see it each year. Matt has rigged computers, we have gone to friends houses to try to watch it….andt he past few years we watched the year prior off of you tube…lol…the kids didn’t know any different and as long as no one said what year it was I’m not sure I’d be able to tell either! But this year we were able to stream it live, thank goodness. We set up a TV in our bedroom so Corban could still rest, but we all wanted to be with each other. We decided to bring our bubble bed into our bed and all 7 of us sat together watching and eating.
3. Normally we would have friends or family over….and I’d spend the day in the kitchen, on my feet, decorating, serving, prepping, cleaning….etc….and I do really enjoy hosting! But there was something so incredibly freeing about not having to do any of that this year. I still prepped but only by collecting ingredients. I baked one of my favorite brie recipes but that’s it! I didn’t cook anything else!

We took all of our things down to the beach. We knew exactly the spot we wanted. Matt dropped me off with Kate and he took the boys to go park the car. She and I set up everything before they got back and I loved seeing how excited their faces were when they saw it!

We spent the rest of the day playing, exploring, twirling, watching, eating, laughing and….relaxing. As the skies grew darker and darker and the sun got lower and lower…and as I watched Kate’s silhouette dancing and doing cartwheels, and the boys making up games with swords and rocks I couldn’t help but be so so so thankful. It felt like my heart could just jump out of my chest. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s sometimes so easy to focus on the things we want or don’t have instead of just soaking in all that we do. I don’t deserve any of this, not one bit. And I don’t ever want to forget that. I’m so overwhelmingly thankful.

As we loaded up the kids and packed away our things, Matt came up and hugged me and said the day was perfect. The kids emphatically said it was their favorite thanksgiving ever.  And I have to admit, even though, nothing was as I originally intended, I kinda think so too. Maybe our normal traditions are broken for a bigger purpose, to remind us to slow down, to see one another and to remember what it is we are truly thankful for. Maybe I need to see set backs and plans not going as intended as a blessing in disguise.

Happy Thanksgiving!