A wonderful holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today was busy, but blissfully so! My mom and I went to my cousin Jessi and her husband Dave's house. Jessi's parents, my Aunt Bea and Uncle Jimmy, came all the way out from Nebraska to be here. Jessi's brothers, Jay and Nathan, also came and brought their girlfriends. It was fabulous!

Before I talk more, some self-obsession:

I kept my makeup natural, using autumn-friendly earth tones.
(Image from instagram, sorry about the quality!)

Here's what I wore.
Leggings, top, boots: Seen in this post.
Necklace: Charlotte Russe
Brooch: Belonged to my grandmother.
I also brought a black cardigan to throw on in case I got cold.

Anyway, as I said in my last post, last year's holiday season left much to be desired. I was going to elaborate more in this post, since I promised myself I'd hide as little as possible from you guys, but I ended up deciding against it. A lot happened that's just too painful to talk about. Maybe one day. For now, I'd like to focus on the happy stuff. :)

A lot of us hadn't seen each other for a really long time, so catching up felt great. We talked and laughed, my cousins got me to watch football with them (I come from a family of die-hard Redskin fans), and I helped out making and preparing the meal.

Coloring Christmas pictures with my littlest little cousin, Karis (Jessi's baby girl).
Isn't she precious?! She turned 2 in October.

Hanging out with Max, Jessi and Dave's Boston terrier, who happens to look huge in this picture.
Again, forgive the quality.

Though I didn't end up remembering to take pictures of the spread, it was beautiful. There was turkey, ham, and tofurkey for yours truly (which, for the record, I ended up quite enjoying). For sides there were mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, vegetarian stuffing, a million different types of gravy (I don't like gravy, but I heard it was good), corn, deviled eggs, warm rolls with butter and, most importantly, cranberry sauce (oh yum). Some warm pie and ice cream made dessert. Truly a feast!

After dinner and watching the Redskins win, we decided to play telenary. For those who don't know, telenary is a cross between the games Telephone and Pictionary. To play, each person needs as many pieces of paper as there are people playing the game. A topic is selected, for example a movie title. Everyone writes down the name of their movie and passes their stack of paper to the left. Everyone looks at what the previous person wrote, puts that slip of paper at the back of the pile, and attempts to draw that movie title. Then the stacks are again passed to the left, and the next person has to look at the picture and try to write down what they see. The cycle keeps going: draw, write, draw, write, until everyone receives their own pile back. At this point, everyone gets to see how hilariously lost in translation their movie title got. It's SUPER fun! We played for seriously four hours, until our bellies hurt from laughing. 

I feel the need to reiterate what a blessing it was for my family to be together and laughing until we cried like we were. Part of the reason that this past year has been hard was that there's been a lot of division in our family, so feeling like a whole again was an awesome feeling. 

I'm so thankful for the fun we had today. I'm thankful for everyone in my family. I'm thankful that this year has been far kinder than 2011 was. I'm thankful for my current boyfriend, and his parents, for being such a good support system when I needed one the most. I'm thankful for old friends who never left my side when my life was falling apart, and I'm thankful for the many new friends I've made since starting at CNU. I'm thankful for CNU itself, for being such a wonderful place, and for being the place where I truly became my own person.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Yes, I know, it's a bible verse. Sue me. It felt appropriate, :)

Also, I'm thankful that I can finally listen to Christmas music unabashedly (not that I haven't been since Halloween). I have absurdly high levels of holiday spirit this year, so I'm definitely in the mood for baking, decorating, and shopping for friends. :) I'm listening to Judy Garland's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as I type. 

I sincerely hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as I did, and I hope to write again soon. :) Now I'm off to bed!

Goodnight and happy holidays,

<3, Ali

P.S. - follow me on Instagram! AlexndraRae is my username. :)