Aruba, Jamaica, Ooo I Wanna Take Ya

I spent Thanksgiving in a little town called Kokomo. And I'm not talking 'Bermuda, Bahama, Come on pretty mama' OR surfboards and bikinis... I'm referring to a little town in the midwest. Kokomo, Indiana, to be exact. When having to choose between spending the holidays alone in my little apartment with a turkey sandwich and glass of cranberry juice OR going home with my boyfriend and some of my closest friends here, I chose the latter. So Wednesday afternoon after putting in half days at our J.O.B.s, we took off for the 12 hour, all-night drive.

And wouldn't you know?... about 3 hours into the trip, we had a lovely flat tire in the black of night in snowy Pennsylvania. I've never been so cold. But those boys took charge and changed the tire like pros, and off we went.

I couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving. Adam has a very eclectic family. His aunts and uncles have adopted children from all over the world, as well as taking in foster children. On Saturday, his grandfather rented out a huge space, and 50+ family members got together for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty sure the kids outnumbered the adults. By the end of the day, I was giving piggyback rides, bouncing toddlers on my knee, racing elementary schoolers, etc. And I ALMOST won my round in the Wii Bowling Tournament, but then I lost the tie-braker to a 2nd-grader named Gracie. Shoot. I guess there's always next year...

And another highlight was the fact that the night we arrived, a stray kitten wandered up onto their porch and it was love at first sight. I spent the next four days carrying that thing around like it was my child. I tried to sneak it into Adam's coat when we left, but there just wasn't enough breathing room. And in addition to the kitten, his family has four dogs and four cats. So between the kids and the animals, I was showered in love (and slobber) all weekend long.

When it was time to leave on Sunday, we woke up to about 3 inches of snow. It was a nice way to end the trip.

Although I missed my own family, I was extremely grateful for the wonderful people that shared their Thanksgiving festivities with me.

I hope you all had a Happy Turkey Day! Now onto Christmas! Hanukkah! Kwanzaa! Festivus! Time for the airing of grievances and the feats of strength!

Love,

LAUREN