ThanksGINNing

I’m really not sure how it is possible but every year Thanksgiving with my family just keeps getting better and better. Or since we are the Ginn family I should probably say ThanksGINNing like the cute shirts that Maya designed for all of us this year said! Maybe it’s that my kids are SO happy to play with their awesome cousins from the second they open their eyes to the second they close them again. Maybe it’s that there is always SO much laughter and interesting conversations. Maybe it’s that we all do a great service project together. Maybe it’s that when we are all (yay for Nana being able to make it!) together I know my dad is there in spirit also. But whatever it is, the four days that we spent in Austin with everyone in the family together except Evan who is on his mission, was some of the very best days of the year! 

We all stayed together at a gorgeous house in the hills of north Austin with tons of amenities and fun things to do! There was beautiful room for everyone inside including a gigantic bunk bed room over the garage where all the teenagers stayed and a cute playroom full of toys and giant legos where the littles stayed. But the best part was the outside! A trampoline, soccer field, basketball court, gaga pit, pool, extra long pool slide, hot tub, fire pit, walking trails in the woods with several tree swings, an outdoor kitchen and giant tv were all enjoyed to the max! 

Keagan, Riley, Tess and Campbell were the only ones to swim and they did so on two separate days. They jumped between the freezing cold pool and the hot tub occasionally using the extra long slide into the second pool like only kids could. They also used the trampoline a ton and all the cousins played in the gaga pit together! One night we all roasted s’mores together and the outdoor couches and tv got lots of love. The little girls also loved the giant legos in the playroom, using them to make a giant fort. And they made several music videos too mostly on the tramp. 

Kirk and Tyler used the smoker outside to make the most incredible thanksgiving turkeys and the grill to make a delicious beef tenderloin. Combine that with Kari’s mashed potatoes, Vicki’s stuffing, my sweet potato soufflé and green bean casserole and Sa’s rolls and pies and we had the most delicious thanksgiving dinner! Everyone knows I hate cooking but doing so in that beautiful kitchen all together actually wasn’t too bad! The other meals like our big traditional Pakka breakfast, make your own pizza night, In n Out, good Chinese take out, etc were great on this trip too! 

Some of us made gingerbread houses, some of us went to the UT football game and got to meet Bevo! We all played a lot of games like the frog game, apples to apples, table top curling, cards, a custom family word search that Sa made and more. We all definitely sat and talked A LOT and teased eachother like we do best. Thanksgiving night we did a sock exchange white elephant style and it was sure fun! The highlight was dreidel socks and Chick fil A socks. A hilarious moment was when Riley thought she was unwrapping socks with HER face on them but they turned out to have MY face on them. She was very disappointed which made everyone laugh and was much happier when she finally got the socks with HER face! Lisa also got us all our traditional matching jammies and she had made the cutest grab bags full of encouraging gifts for everyone. 

The highlight for most of us was keeping with our tradition to do a service project together on Thanksgiving morning. I found this organization called Operation Turkey that started in downtown Austin but has grown all over the country. It was one of the most impressive and efficient service organizations I have ever witnessed and it was an honor we got to be apart of it! They had an assembly line and a system to make, package and deliver over 2,500 meals to people experiencing homelessness or who are otherwise in need in downtown Austin. All of us plus two cute sister missionaries from Kirk and Kari’s ward split up in 4 different cars and had the opportunity to deliver over 100 Thanksgiving meals that morning! What a blessing that was and an opportunity to gain even more gratitude for all that we have been blessed with! It was SO so awesome! 

After the Fosters left early Saturday morning to officially trek to Utah (more on that on another blog post later) we checked out of the house and headed over to Kirk and Kari’s gorgeous new house in Austin! Over there we did a Bob Ross follow along painting that was awesome! The kids played four square and did side walk chalk until after lunch we had our traditional Ginn family kick ball game.  Without a doubt that enticed a lot of smack talk, laughter, one injury and Uncle Kirk taking of his shirt of course! 

And then before any of us wanted to we were saying goodbye for our drive back home. I am beyond blessed with an amazing family. In such a beautiful way we are all so different but have similar cores based on mutual love, loyalty, goodness and faith. I love these people with everything I got, each one of them. But even more amazing then that is seeing my kids love them and be loved by them! Most of them we will only see once, maybe twice before Thanksgiving next year. But this one was so great I think it just might carry us thru until then! Happy ThanksGINNing family!