Homeward Bound

Tomorrow night Eric and I are headed south to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with our families. Of course, this is assuming that we can get there in time. Let me set the scene: our flight is due to depart from JFK Airport (joy) at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, the night before Thanksgiving (because that won't be hectic at all). In case that doesn't sound fun enough, my travel weather luck strikes again and this is the forecast for tomorrow:

Oh, goody. Look at that pretty little band of precipitation stretching aaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllll the way down the coast from New York to Florida. Weather.com even so kindly classified flights leaving from the northeast tomorrow as "headaches," and flights in/out of Florida as "potential problems." Yay!

But, we'll just hope for the best. Although if I don't get down there in time for mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, heads will roll.

Assuming we make it in on time, we have lots of fun things planned for our stay. We'll be having Thanksgiving with families, Eric will get to golf, we'll be going to Eric's 10-year high school reunion, we'll celebrate Gramz's birthday and we may even be able to squeeze in a little time to visit friends or have lunch at the beach or something...but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

This holiday really is a change for us. I'm pretty sure neither Eric nor I have been home for Thanksgiving since moving out of the state of Florida in 2005. For our first Thanksgiving in D.C., I was actually in Cleveland for my cousin's wedding, so Eric and our roommate Jeff were left to their own devices, both for cooking and "disposing of" the turkey.

Yup, that's a turkey carcass flying off our 13th-floor balcony. Boys. (Also, yes, we lived on the 13th floor. Superstition!!!)

We spent our second D.C. Thanksgiving as a "family" of three with a yummy home-cooked meal, and our last D.C. Thanksgiving was Eric's and my first as husband and wife.

D.C. Thanksgiving #2, with Jeff and Eric. This year the turkey carcass went into my soup pot rather than over the balcony.

Ready to eat D.C. Thanksgiving dinner #3, prepared with and served on many of our new wedding gifts! Ah, happy newlyweds.

When we moved to New York, we spent our first Thanksgiving with my dad, who was in town to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (which we went to, of course).

My dad marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Awesome Original Second Time Arounders of St. Petersburg, FL

The following year, we managed to snag VIP passes to the Macy's Parade, which meant we got to watch it in person without the long wait in the cold and unbearable crowd. Now THAT is the way to do it.

At the parade, enjoying front row seats with room to move - luxury!

Last year, there were no parades to go to (well there were, but we sat it out), but Eric did run a Turkey Trot in Brooklyn. Then we just enjoyed a quiet meal at home with our little family.

Oooh, I miss this apartment.

As excited as I am to be home with our families for the holidays, to be honest, I am kind of going to miss our little W. family holiday this year. Eric and I have really put an effort into making our holidays "ours," both by incorporating traditions from our individual families as well as starting our own traditions. Over the past few weeks I have caught myself making plans for our Thanksgiving here, and then I have to remind myself that this year, we'll be doing something different. It has been much more of an adjustment than I anticipated! I think that's good in a way though, don't you? I think it shows that Eric and I are really settling in and making our own family, one that is growing now! I'm excited to share our traditions with Baby Girl W. in future years, too - whatever those traditions may ultimately become.

This year is going to be lots of fun, though. A few members of each of our families are going to do the St. Pete Times Turkey Trot on Thursday morning (the 1-mile walk...no way am I running anywhere. Let's just say pregnancy made me lose a little of my speed, and really there wasn't that much speed to start with). Then we'll have dinner with Eric's family (plus my mom!), followed by another dinner with my dad, sister and grandma, and our annual Christmas tree-trimming that evening. It should be a wonderful day. (And my hungry-all-the-time self is particularly excited about all the food!)

What are your holiday plans, my friends? Traveling? Family time? Preparing a feast? If you are going out of town, I wish you safe travels!