This Thanksgiving had me thankful for so much.
It was a precious, family-filled evening cushioned by 3 extra days to regain consciousness from my food coma.
As is tradition, my parents hosted the whole family.
And as 4 generations of laughter filled my heart to the brim, I felt deeply, wildly grateful to be part of our close-knit, ever growing family.
A family full of support and kindness and unconditional love.
It's just the Best.
I was quite proud of the food I contributed to the evening.
Now, I'm no Barefoot Contessa, but I do have a few specialties- and this brie is at the top of my list.
It is mouth-watering good.
This year my brother and I also attempted to make Turkey cupcakes for our 3 year old cousin Jack.
And after throwing away approximately 27 Nutter Butters due to trial and error (and error, and error...), we finally created these masterpieces.
I think they are soooo cute, and Jack absolutely loved them!
The entire weekend was a perfect balance of relaxation and moving and grooving.
Yes, I did watch at least 10 episodes of Law and Order: SVU with my brother,
but between episodes (or while we were waiting for more to TiVo),
we really made our way around town.
One absolutely AWESOME thing I did was take my beautiful cousin Tara's engagement photos!
I had never done anything like this before, and was so, SO excited to do it that I counted down for the day to come.
My brother acted as my assistant and my creative director, and somewhere in between switching a lens and lying on the ground to get a shot, I fancied myself a real life photographer!
I am in love with how they turned out and I think it is so cool that she asked me to be part of something so special.
Here are just a few of my favorite shots...
My parents, brothers and I spent almost every waking hour of the 4 day vacation together in one combination or another.
We drove to Middleburg, Virginia to browse through all of the quaint Christmas stores,
went out to 3 fabulous dinners, went shopping, saw Cher in Burlesque (4 out of 5 stars), and even went to the shooting range.
That's right, Ladies and Gentlemen (Well, actually, probably just ladies)
I, Jessica, joined my brother and my dad on our second annual Thanksgiving weekend shooting range outing.
And let me tell you something- it was bad a**.
I like to think that I pulled off being a natural.
Minus the 100 rounds I went through trying to aim with a rifle.
But my patience paid off.
Because even with wind blown eyes and frozen fingers, I showed the boys what I was made of.
This right here would be MY bullseye.
As my dad would say, Rock ON.
And as with every holiday or special occasion (or really just every single day), I've got to give a giant shout out to the one and only Big Mama for making the time we all spend together so wonderfully sweet.
I am so thankful for you.
