Thanksgiving Day at the Croswell's

Can you believe it is already Thanksgiving? At the beginning of the week I thought I was not going to get to enjoy all of our family and all of the great Thanksgiving food but thank God I am better and I got to eat turkey and dressing!! We got to Valley View at about 5:30pm on Tuesday evening. Ashby was so excited to see her cousints (that's what Jude calls Boomer and Ashby) and they were excited to see her. Everyone started talking about what they were going to cook on Thursday and it all sounded so good. When we woke up Thursday morning I was so hungry. Since I had not been feeling good I hadn't gotten to eat very much so all I could think about was food! It all turned out great! Michael made the dressing and gravy, Steve cut up everything for the cranberry salad, Tracie mashed the potaoes, Mamoo made the peas, and Susan made the corn casserole (with butter :>)! Papoo was unable to sit up and eat with us so we all went back and said the blessing with him in his room. Susan and Tracie took their food back and ate with him. Ashby loved the potatoes and the peas. She ate a whole plate full so I guess that meant she thought they were awesome! We are all so thankful for our family! I am so proud to be part of the Croswell family. I don't think there could have been a better family to marry into! The one thing I missed a lot about this year was my family. I missed getting to eat Aunt Phyllis' dressing, Granny's mashed potatoes, Aunt Barbara's mac and cheese, Aunt Neda's green bean casserole, Aunt Jeanie's chocolate chip cookies, and my mom's broccoli casserole and bread, but I am thankful that they were all able to be together.
I know most of you are probably wondering...."I wonder how she is doing emotionally?" Well, Thanksgiving was hard but I was glad we could be with Papoo. I thought about Boomer all day long...his first Thanksgiving when he ate dressing, and broccoli casserole, and mashed potatoes and peas and cornbread, and how much he loved looking at tree lights (christmas lights) and how he should be running around playing with Alex and Jude! But, he's not here and he had a way better Thanksgiving than we could ever imagine! I just keep reminding myself that God knows more than me and whether I like it or not the way things are is the way he planned it to be. I know there will only be a certain number of Thanksgivings to come that he will not be here but there will be an infinite number of Thanksgivings that we will spend together in heaven.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Don't forget to cherish every moment you have with your family because you don't know how many moments you have left with them.
I hope this finds everyone having a wonderful day....until next time...

Josh's 30th Birthday!

For the past three years I have been hearing..."Christina, I am almost 30!!!" So I thought what a better way to bring in the BIG 30 for Josh than to have a surprise party with some of our closest friends! The planning started about 2 months before the party. I wanted to make sure everything was just right. My mom made the cake, I took care of decorations (with help from Prissy, Brandi, Tara, Larry, and Stacey...thanks for making the streamers look awesome), and my brother grilled all the hamburgers! There were a couple of times when I thought it was not going to happen. I also thought that he already knew what was going on but everything was perfect. Since we are right in the middle of hunting season in East Texas I figured that would be the best way to lure him away from the house. So I called our friend Tony and set up a hog hunting trip for Josh, my dad and my brother in law. They left at about 3 and that's when it all got crazy. We started running around trying to get everything ready. With my mom, my sister, and some friends we got it all done pretty quick. By 5:30 everyone was at the house...cars hidden and being very quiet waiting on the right moment to scream...SURPRISE!!!!! He got there at about 6 and he was totally surprised. Everything went as planned and the party was a success. We had such a great time with all of our friends and family. Thanks to everyone who spent the evening with us celebrating Josh reaching a milestone!