First Thanksgiving With Kids

I know, I know it is closer to Christmas than Thanksgiving and I am just getting around to writing this, but hey I am still adjusting to life with 3 kids and blogging tends to fall at the bottom of the to-do list. This year thanksgiving was awesome and eye-opening all at the same time! We woke up and had a lazy day watching the parade (you know, THE parade) and hanging out. We then packed our bags of food (homemade, with 3 kids, pumpkin pie) and toys an headed down to in-laws/grandparents’ house

Speaking of the pumpkin pie: S had made pumpkin pie in school for a math lesson and came home requesting to make pumpkin pie. Her and I planed to make it the night before thanksgiving but P got a fever and needed his mama so we couldn’t. We rescheduled our baking for Thursday morning with S doing 1 pie and C and P sharing the second pie. The time came to make the pies, and S had no interest anymore. Joel found that irritating since he had tried to talk her into a store-bought pie with no luck, I was amused like none other. So C and P and I set about the make the pie. Once S saw that I was making the pie with C and P she changed her mind (again) REALLY quick and decided to help. At this point all three kids had been living with us for about 6 weeks and for the first time I did an activity with ALL of them with no fighting or arguing. It was the best! And the pie wasn’t too bad either, although thinking back I don’t think S even ate any of it.

Anyways, we got down to the grandparents’ house with hours until dinner. We figured we would just make a day out of it. Oh silly newly adoptive parents! Looking back the kids did quite well, but they were stressed ALL day. Finally about an hour before dinner while S and I are looking at Black Friday Shopping ads (yes S and I did Black Friday shopping), C our family barometer, loses her mind. Joel tries to comfort her but after 10 minutes of SCREAMING I go back and cuddle with her. I finally get out of her that she is nervous because she doesn’t know what is going to happen. I laugh (on the inside) and calmly explain each hour of our day to her. After I am done she says “That’s it?”. And the tears and screaming stop to never return.

It was in this moment that Joel and I both realize that our kids are not the go to grandma’s house for hours on end kids, at least not now. Yes, I know, being fairly well-educated about adoption I should know this, but you have to miss some things for the sake of the drama, right? right…..? Anyways, after Thanksgiving with DRASTICALLY changed our Christmas plans which previously included going to a new (to them) church and then dinner and playing at grandparents’ house. Now our Christmas will include a service at the church we always go to and no traveling to family’s houses. Family is awesomely traveling to us. Our kids are just so new to this family and so new to celebrating pretty much anything that they need the consistency of being at home with their very own room to escape to. Hope that this makes christmas better than thanksgiving! In reality our thanksgiving was really good, just full of vicarious stress from the kids.