Hannah and I have now been married for six and a half months, and just enjoyed one of many "firsts" together this week: our first thanksgiving together. Since "the two have become one," we also began to figure out how this Thanksgiving would work... Would we spend it with her family? Would we spend it with my familiy? What about Christmas? How are we going to rotate? The list goes on....
What I found to be so great was that we ended up being able to see both sides of the family. Hannah was able to convince my parents and brother to drive out to Deer Lodge, TN to have Thanksgiving lunch with her side of the family. Then after that, we all would head to Jonesborough for Thanksgiving dinner with my side of the family.
Since Deer Lodge is way out there, Dad, David, and I loaded up some guns to shoot once we got there. Once we had filled up our bellies on turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and all the other goodies, the men headed outside to shoot paper plates and playing cards. The only problem was that as soon as we stepped outside, the temperature dramatically dropped - and within half an hour we even saw a small snow flurry - but that didn't stop us. We shot our .22 Remington lever action, Smith and Wesson .22, my Ruger, and even got to burn some rounds with a Glock 9mm. Once we cleaned up our mess, our hands were frozen, but it was fun letting my brothers in law shoot my Ruger.
Then, we had to rush off to head to Jonesborough to make it for Thanksgiving dinner. The only problem was... we didn't know there was a time difference when we made it to Deer Lodge. Thus, we showed up an hour late to Thanksgiving with my family. But that was okay - we quickly ate and sat down to enjoy some time with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents - the whole lot. It has been a few Thanksgivings since we have been able to make it, so I really enjoyed getting to see everyone.
We hung out and talked and talked, and (regrettably) had to head back home to Knoxville as it got late. But it was such a blessing to be able to make it out to both Deer Lodge and Jonesborough. I was so blessed this Thanksgiving. Sure, we spend many hours driving, but it was worth it to spend that time with family. Wouldn't trade it for anything.
So now that we've enjoyed our first Thanksgiving together, next month will bring the first Christmas together! And I must say, I'm very, very excited.
