m&m the sweetest things: Thanksgiving Part I: To Aunt Polly's House We Go!

McKay and I started our trip back home for Thanksgiving ~~bright~~ dark and early at 3 in the morning to avoid the oh, so lovely traffic of Cali. Our plan worked and we arrived in time for apres-lunch and gingerbread house making with Jo-Jo and Matt! I slept for most of the drive as visions of sugared yams and turkey danced through my head! Mmm...

My knight in shining armor drove the whole 10 hours, not once taking me up on my many offers to take a turn.
I love him!

After all that traveling, it was wonderful to come home to this adorable and comfy bed made by my little momma, the decorating extraordinaire! We felt like we were in a five-star hotel!

Before settling down for the night though,
first we had to fix a bed,

...de-bone a duck,

...a chicken,

...AND a Turkey.

(Some of you may know where this is going and for the rest of you, you will just have to find out in Thanksgiving Part II)

My brother Ziah did the messy work, while I did the hard job of keeping him company, taking pictures and participated in art projects like this...

...into the late hours of the night!

Since everyone in my family stayed up late, or early depending on how you look at it, McKay and I spent the first part of our Thanksgiving feast at Aunt Polly's!

We saw Uncle Chad and his lovely girls.

And the rest of Polly's kids and grandkids!

Jordan and Kelly's little guy below is my new favorite! Oh, he's so adorable!

McKay is part of my favorites too, of course!

Uncle Damien's famous mashed potatoes!

Whoa, now that's an impressive mountain of totties!

Every year McKay tries our family's crab cocktail, our traditional Thanksgiving drink, and every year I hope that he will like it, not even love, just like.

Apprehensive first sip...