A Shear Family Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and I'm sad to see the relaxing weekend leave as we enter into an extremely busy month. Elizabeth and Kent drove all the way from Boston to spend the weekend with us. This was our second Thanksgiving with them in Michigan and I love the traditions we've started. Most of them revolve around food and this year we added to the list spinach artichoke dip and sweet potatoes. Elizabeth taught us how to make tea pasteries; a traditional breakfast she made for Ben as a kid. He used to call them pea tasties and I'm excited to see what Alison calls them throughout the years.
With all the excitement going on in the kitchen Thanksgiving afternoon, Alison had a hard time getting in a good nap. Eventually I went into her room and rocked with her for about an hour. I sat there thinking about how truly thankful I am for the gift God gave me-a beautiful little girl. It was so refreshing to be able to hold my precious baby and reflect on all of the amazing blessings God has poured into my life.

After a long time of cuddling, Alison was up ready to go! Nana and Grandad brought early Christmas presents, so before dinner we opened gifts. Alison was more excited about the bag they brought the gifts in than the actual presents. Every time I'm around Elizabeth and I understand a little more about Ben. They're both great cooks, love computer games and books, and are the best gift givers ever. Ironically though, Elizabeth and I have the exact same taste in clothes (However she is a million times better in actually executing the style) so I definitely won in the present department with a new sweater from the Gap. They also graciously left the blue bag for Alison along with her presents.
Alison soaked in the extra people to read her books. We all got a little pooped out of reading the same book over and over and encouraged her to read to herself. I thought it was cute that she was quietly mumbling to herself while sitting at the table flipping through the pages. The above picture is the face I get when I ask her to say, "Cheese!".

I still went into the office Saturday morning and I came home to find that Ben had done Alison's hair. He actually did a really good job. I think we all got a lot out of this weekend, whether it be good food, relaxation or time to learn new things. I know Alison fell deeper in love with kitties while Nana and Grandad were here. Elizabeth brought her laptop and showed Alison a kitty video on it once. From then on, Alison would stand at her legs and say, "Up please!" and then holler, "Meow!? Meow!? Meow!?" begging for more kitty movies. Once she became so desperate to see a kitty video that she began signing please on Elizabeth's chest, just to make sure we all knew she was trying to be polite but really needed to see another kitty. For me, I reflected a lot on family. I also learned one big thing. This is going to sound like a stupid story, but it's true. One evening we were all watching 'What not to wear' and were having a fun time laughing at the "victim". I can't remember exactly what the lady said, but she was frustrated with shopping and her confidence level was in the dumpster. Elizabeth said, "Huh, that sounds familar" and it hit me. I'm just like the victim! I waste so much energy being frustrated with stupid things and have absolutely no confidence in things that I'm perfectly good at.

Later on Saturday we went shopping at Somerset. I'm still in somewhat of a clothing crises and I thought with my own "what not to wear" crew, I might be able to find something that looked good. As we were leaving the crazy busy mall we got into a funny conversation about college student attire. We all think it's funny that wearing tights as pants with ugs and messy hair is a fashion style. Well, last night I was folding laundry and Alison snagged my pink fuzzy socks and put them over her pants. She looked just like one of the college students we were making fun of!

I'm so thankful for everything God has given me; for a wonderful family, for a faithful and loving husband, for a spunky little girl who is the spice of my life, for our health, for His Son and the forgiveness he gives me every day.