So to begin my story.... I arrived at the airport thanks to schliz (who thankfully stored my car at her house) and was a little apprehensive because of flying alone and the supposed high security. Never fear the TSA was not doing pat downs in good ole greenville airport. Well then I sat down at my gate, ate my chickfila at 11 in the morning, and scoped out my flying companions. I had two that I has hoping to be sitting by both looked like good fratty college boys but OH NO yours truly had a delightfully long airplane ride with a 75 year old poet that was a former dean at clemson.... NO WORRIES I know his whole life story including that he lost his wife a year ago and was traveling to have thanksgiving with her former college roommate because she has also lost a spouse and that the woman he was seeing in gville was not happy about it... wow. Oh and his next book is coming out next month, has twin children (i saw pictures), and has a knee replacement. Yeah it was interesting...
Well once I arrived at the Detroit Airport... I wandered about with my lilly bag and cowboy boots getting just a few stares until my uncle arrived early and saved me when I hurriedly ripped my ancient vera bradley from the baggage claim (probably because it was over packed) and almost got hit by a car.
Whew ok so Thanksgiving here is quite a production... from those who do not know my dad is one of thirteen children so I have a ton of aunts, uncles, and cousins. The cooking started the day before with emily on cookie duty (she probably made 100 or so), my aunt and grandma making a ton of pies, brining the turkey, and various other preparations...
The next day was chaos though organized under grandma's supervision... There were almost 50 people and that was only aunts, uncles, and cousins. We all barely fit but no fear there was plenty of food and in different preparations (2 different turkeys, 2 different stuffings, 3 different sweet potatoes, 2 different regular potatoes, etc..)
But in this miller household (i.e. the original) the main entertainment is sitting around the large dinner table, talking, and eating whatever is in front of you (usually cookies, pie, donuts...) And of course my dear father telling the same 3 stories over and over again to whoever will listen or walk in the door and laughing whether anyone else thinks it's funny or not.
Today we had a cousins day out. So just a few of us (basically whoever we could round up) and our aunts Maurine and Georgina went to the movies. The group included myself, emily, cheryl, sharon, daniel, lauren, and kathleen. So when the miller's go places and since we have such a large family we travel in a big red church fan... yes my family has one for family outings and vacations... yes i know wow. Well we loaded the van we went to the nearest mall and went shopping before our movie... which is outdoor and OH IT WAS 25 DEGREES.... why in the world in place that is sooo darn cold would you have outdoor malls is beside me. But of course me the always avid shopper was more than willing to brave the elements. Oh and in this weather my cousins were wearing sweatshirts and tshirts and emily and i were wearing our warmest coats.
And in typical Miller fashion we were 45 minutes EARLY for the movie like before even the stuff before the previews were on. And my adorable 3 year old cousin kept asking why the movie was broken and who broke it. When Tangled finally began, she crawled into my lap and wiggled and asked for crunch bars for the remainder but she was just too cute to say no.
Following the movie, we returned to Grandma's (or the farm as it is known as here) to eat some leftovers. Then we were informed by my aunt georgina that we had reservations for having our picture taken with santa. So yes my sister and I along with my aunt sarah and her children, lauren, kathleen, and christopher and my aunt maurine, aunt georgina, and uncle brian went to the mall to have our picture taken and of course to do some shopping (also a favorite miller hobby... and ya'll thought it wasn't genetic). And yes I had to sit on Santa's lap it was funny and embarrassing. Pictures to follow
Oh and finally one of my family's other favorite hobbies is to pick on my southernness specifically because my nuclear family are the only ones. No worries it's always something about the mason-dixon line, reminding us how the south lost "the war", and definitely about our accents. But it is always in good fun and in the butt of a joke. But don't worry it follows us outside the house up here. When shopping today, I had to show my id and the saleswoman responded, "I thought I heard some southern in you" and then I accidently said "Yes, Ma'am" to a woman in Sephora and I thought she was going to yell at me... oh well.
Well 3G I miss you all a lot and the warmness of the South. No worries we will all be back soon complaining, eating our thanksgiving feast, and laying around.... CAN'T WAIT!!!
Love you all and pray I don't get hassled by the TSA on my way home!
Ok... well tried to add pictures but I failed... will try later!
Got them to work!!!
Basting the turkey... our contribution
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