Thanksgiving

  In years past, we have always spent Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family, but this year we were able to spend the holiday with my dad's side. We actually planned surprising my grandparents for a couple of months before Thanksgiving. Mama Mil didn't think twice about us "staying in Atlanta" or "Rob missed his flight to Jackson and had to stay in Atlanta".

Kids' table

Adults' table

  On Wednesday night, Rob flew into Atlanta from Cleveland and we picked him up from the Marta station and took him to my Aunt Emily's house. My Uncle David had most of his family there for Thanksgiving and my Aunt Margaret and Craig were there also. It was wonderful to see them even if it was just for a little while!!

Cousins with our grandparents

The whole McG fam!

  On Thursday morning, P, Rob, and I drove to Guin to surprise everyone. My parents and sister picked up my brother, Josh, and surprised Mama Mil and Granddaddy Robert at their house. Josh was planning on having Thanksgiving with my grandparents and cousins, so Mama Mil told him to be there at 11:30 to help pack up the car with food to go to my aunt's house. However, instead of just Josh, my parents and sister showed up too! We made good time and pulled up to my Aunt Marcia's house a few minutes after everyone else got there. And, we actually pulled off the surprise on Mama Mil! (She hates surprises and always figures them out, so it's very rare that we actually can surprise her!) 

Celebrating "Movember"

Granddaddy Robert and Mama Mil

  Patrick and I spent the night with Mama Mil and Granddaddy Robert and then drove back home on Friday before the Iron Bowl. As much as I love my grandparents, there was no way I could watch the Iron Bowl with them as they are die-hard Alabama fans and I am an avid Auburn fan. We had some friendly banter back and forth as we read through the 22-page spread in the Birmingham paper, but I think we all knew it would not last as soon as the Iron Bowl started. P and I made it back to Atlanta about 45 minutes before the game started and we picked up the Wrigster.

  Then we drove over to my Aunt Emily's house to watch the game. Well, if you saw the first half of the game, you will know that my grandparents were going crazy and I was really angry. At halftime, I positioned myself at the island (where the food was, duh!) and stayed there during the start of the third quarter. Yeah, and being superstitious about Auburn football, I had to stay sitting on the barstool for the rest of the game and watch the game on the small tv in the kitchen versus the large tv in the den. My cousin had to sit in the same position on the couch for the rest of the game. PHEW, we came back from a 24-point deficit and won!!! I was elated!! SEC championship, here we come! Oh, and you'd better believe that I'm keeping the game recorded for a while! I hope your Thanksgiving was as great as mine and that you enjoyed all the time with family as much as I did!

A little post-Thanksgiving nap