Good morning!  I hope that all of my friends and readers in the United States had a wonderful, memorable, and filling Thanksgiving yesterday.

My Thanksgiving was great from the beginning to the end.

Brian’s family friends arrived in town on Wednesday evening.  The day began early with a 4.6 mile run in the Indianapolis Drumstick Dash.  We were decked out in our matching race shirts and turkey visors to show our Thanksgiving day pride.

This was the 10th anniversary of the Drumstick Dash.  This race supports the Wheeler Mission, whose mission is to provide “Christ centered programs and services for the homeless and those in need.”  With each $26 race entry, 11 people were provided with a nutritious and warm meal.  Over 15,000 people were able to participate this year.

Not only did we feel great about moving our feet  before stuffing ourselves with Thanksgiving goodies and helping to provide meals to those in need, but we were also provided with a little Thanksgiving entertainment.

There were a ton of people dressed to impress.

The classic turkey and carrot:

The turkey hat:

We waited for the event to start inside of the blue mile running store that was right by the beginning of the race.  It was a nice day outside and surprisingly warm for an Indiana Thanksgiving, but it was still chilly enough to need the indoor warmth before the start of the race.

After waiting inside for quite sometime and lusting over all of the beautiful running gear it was time to head out to the race.

The course went through the Meridian Kessler neighborhood and through a little area in Indianapolis called Broad Ripple.  Considering the past two races I have completed were half marathons, this race seemed to be over in a snap!

After the race, we were ready to shower up, hop into holiday appropriate clothing, and eat a delicious brunch of quiche and fruit.  Yum!

The Rochfords and their family friends that visited for Thanksgiving, the Carpenters, started a tradition of playing a Thanksgiving game.  Last year, they played bingo, but this year they decided to switch things up a bit and combined Scattergories with Buzz Word to create:

BINGO-Less BINGO

We had a great time debating over the right and wrong answers, listening to the creative answers that people came up with, and just plain laughing.

After all of the rounds of games had been completed, it was time to determine the winner…Brian’s dad, Greg!

Because he was the winner, he was able to pick the first white elephant gift.

All of the items that were given were so creative!  I think my favorite gift were the pink tearless onion goggles.  So practical for those who like to spend time in the kitchen!

Kate loved her fancy Christmas sweater and pumpkin spice egg nog 🙂

After the game was finished and all of the presents were distributed, we were all ready for our Thanksgiving meal.

The spread was delicious!

I attempted to make my dad’s famous Thanksgiving rolls, but unfortunately the did not turn out exactly the way that I remember them. They were still edible, but I will have to test the recipe and figure out where I went wrong for next year’s Thanksgiving meal.

Once our bellies were full, it was time to read some ads for Black Friday sales and take a little snooze.

The puppy wanted to join Brian while he tried to nap on the floor. How cute!

Once the ads were read and a plan for Christmas present purchasing was made, it was time to load up the car to head to Fort Wayne to visit my family.

Now, we are in Fort Wayne spending the weekend with my family.  On the agenda:  Christmas shopping, craft-making, and maybe we will fit in a Christmas movie or two 😉

I am so happy and blessed to have such wonderful and loving people in my life.  I love that Thanksgiving is a time where you truly spend time with the family and celebrate what we love about each other and what we are thankful for.

I hope you all have a wonderful Black Friday!