The Next Day...

Even when you only have two of your four daughters home for Thanksgiving and there's the sweetest little baby, the end of the day is rather bittersweet. I find myself thinking of the two (4 actually as their sweet boys are part of the family as well) who are MIA from the table.

Luckily, this sweet face and her parents were not missing from the Thanksgiving table.

The holidays that come around this time of year, my favorite time of year, take me on the memory trail and I find so many things lacking but I think that's just because I'm comparing what I do with what my grandmother did and that's not fair to anyone because she was the holiday queen!

Baby M and Auntie Breezy.

None of the lovelies seems to find anything lacking about our holiday celebrations. I hope that Baby M will feel the same way as she grows up. But it's still a tad sad that they don't know the excitement of having my grandparents put on a holiday celebration. Or do they?

These goobers adorned one side of the table. SILExtrordinare, Friend of Breezy, Breezy.

I tried, over the years, to replicate some of the traditions that made the holiday season so meaningful to me that the memories have lasted a lifetime.

By the time I realized I hadn't taken pictures of the food, only one person still had food on their plate Turkey, potatoes, cornbread dressing, collards, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole, holiday punch (a first time try and let me just say, it packed a punch!) We hadn't gotten to the pumpkin pie or pumpkin cake yet.

To hear the lovelies talk, they truly enjoyed every holiday season and found nothing lacking. Which tells me, it's just me. Missing the people I loved who made living life so amazing whether it was the holiday season or just Monday.

I love that these two often held the same expressions. BTW, that's my mother with Baby M.

The quality of the next picture is horrible, but it shows Mimi and Baby M watching football.

We know how to raise girls right around here. Football on Thanksgiving! Seriously, this kid loves to watch football! 

I try to hold onto my youthful joy and having the memories of those who made the holidays so special still makes all the difference. I hope that the traditions the lovelies and I have established will always spin their future holidays in a joyful way, too.

There are only a few people left from my childhood. All too soon, I'll be the one leaving the memories of the holidays. The bar has been set high, y'all.

My grandparents, aka The Bar Setters. This was in the late 60s I think. 

Mother and Aunt Betty aka, Bar Setter Helpers. Same year. 

Me and my parents. I think this was the mid-60s???? The downside to digital photos, you can't turn the thing around and check. 

They didn't realize they were setting the bar. They were simply enjoying the holidays. And that's what we're doing now. Simply enjoying the holidays. Except I am reliving the holiday memories, missing those who are now here only in spirit. Ever thankful for every single second I spent with them and for every single memory they left here with me and remembering to appreciate and enjoy my time with the ones still blessing us each and every day.

Have a wonderful weekend, y'all! And, if you're out shopping, be careful.

Please click to visit my Etsy shop: CoasterDoodles

There are plenty of sets for your viewing pleasure! Let me know if you have a question! 

Celebration- Charleston Style

Now that the three of us who needed new jobs have them, we went out to celebrate.

Our intention was to go to our favorite downtown establishment, Fleet Landing, but that place was crowded and we were not interested in waiting over an hour to start our evening. So, we decided to go to Birdie's favorite brunch place, Eli's Table.

We discovered that it is not our favorite dinner place.

The ambiance was lovely and our server was delightfully witty.The building itself was charming and no one made you feel like they wanted you to eat and get out. But, the prices were high because the food was fancy. And I'm not a fan of fancy food.

The kiddos had wine-

And beer--

I had water, which was also fancy.

The conversation was lively and we put Baby in the corner. Haha! It's funny because of the movie and because, she's not the baby. Or something like that. I don't know. I could smell the wine so I must have had a contact buzz going.

Anyway, we waited for about an hour and a half for our fancy food. There was salad and escargot (NOT mine), and bread (also NOT for me because I haven't had a delicious carb since the next to the last week in May for crap's sake).

The entrees were over priced and fancy (did I already mention that?) and, apparently, they hired a designer to arrange the fancy food on extra large plates. Sheesh. Just put the food on a plate. Rib eye steak and shrimp, roasted chicken, fancy mac and cheese, catch of the day which DID have mushrooms even though Breezy, who DETESTS mushrooms, was assured the dish contained none of the offending fungi...

Here's my fancy food of the night- the salmon. Yummy crusty top and blechy rawish middle.

Still, we had fun! We passed our plates around to each other and had samples- though I did NOT sample the escargot, Ew- and we joked and laughed and enjoyed the company of one another. Which was the important part anyway.

L to R: Breezy- new job as an artist complete with the key to the studio! Evan and Birdie who already have great jobs. DoodleBug who is the newest first grade teacher at our school which is the same elementary school the lovelies attended when growing up. Deanie is the third receiver of a new job but she lives in Nashville and couldn't be here. We included her anyway. AND, she would have LOVED the fancy food. LOL

Oh, one more thing- they have ONE restroom there with ONE toilet and ONE sink in a tiny room that you get to by walking way too close to other diners' food. It was like trying to walk through a department store that crams the clothes racks in so tight that you have no choice other than knock a few items off those racks as you pass through.

Maybe you're not supposed to have to go to the restroom in an establishment that serves fancy food.

Or maybe our family simply shouldn't be allowed out in public.



SO- Eli's Table: for dinner? Thumbs down. For brunch? Absolutely!