Families, Holidays and Being Far Away from One Another...

We had a wonderful visit with my daughter, her husband, and my Grand Daughter and 2 Grandsons on Saturday! We also so enjoyed being at my son's "Better Half"(I am just kidding, but she is a wonderful lady and we are happy to have her in the family) :):) at their home, in which they were gracious enough to host the early Thanksgiving Dinner there. Everything was just incredible. My daughter is an excellent cook, and did a great job with it all. My son in law did a "deep fried" turkey!!! It was delicious! Definitely a new treat to add to the menu as the menu kept growing when we got it all ready. My daughter did most of the cooking, and my Mom slipped in a pecan pie, and I took my son's favorite the banana pudding I make that is richer than rich! I also had my husband do the mashed potatoes. He is famous for his secret ingredient he puts in them... LOL ...between sweet potato casserole, and I did make some home made cranberry salad, a ham, stuffing, rolls, gravy, regular cranberry sauce, and my daughter had also brought her famous pumpkin roll which was absolutely to die for. I think she had orders for 15 last week and already has another 25 or more orders waiting on her when they get back home, which is down South around Corpus Christi. That is what made it so special. We jut don't get to visit as much as we would love, and being able to really have everyone of us in the same home, at the same time together is a special treat. I know my Dad was looking down on us and smiling. He would have really enjoyed all of the food for sure. It was the perfect "holiday" before the holiday, and my only regret is that they could not stay longer. They have the kids to get back in school for part of the week, and of course everything else that goes along with taking care of the family. By the way my son's girlfriend has one monstrosity of a "tournament" sized pool table that they played a few games on before we left to come home!! It is a beauty to say the least!!! She loves to play, and plays on a league, so she really has something to practice on for sure. As always, it is difficult to see them go. It seems we never get enough time to really visit like we would like to. I realized it so much when I was talking to my two Grandson's. One is 5, going to be 6(I believe) and one is 3. I realized when I talked with them, they have been around me so very little due to the distance between us, that they don't "know" me. Not like they would if they lived closer where I was around them more. It kind of "got" to me, when I saw that they almost feel like I am more of a stranger just due to them being smaller and me being not around much... they are not used to having me around them. But, life is life. We must do some things, like live further apart than we wished.. because we must also do what we have to for our own families etc. Yet, even with that I tried to take in every moment and thoroughly enjoy them:):):)!!!!