The Thanksgiving with the red bells

I'm sure my parents are wondering if I've forgotten to post about Thanksgiving, but alas, here it is. 

Thanksgiving 2013.

Complete with a bea-u-tiful bird.  

My very own bird man was behind that beauty.

He takes his job as the bird man very serious, and you can tell. His turkey rules!

Actually the whole meal rules.

All the preparation always pays off.

This kitchen is always the hub for any holiday...

As we all circle the food like buzzards waiting on the kill.

And we easily destroy all that preparation in 20 minutes flat.

Which is quickly followed with naps...

Sometimes more than one nap.

But I say nap schmap, because it was finally time to celebrate some important birthdays!

Chris and I are at the mercy of waiting to celebrate on Thanksgiving.

Felt like we waited forever this year.

I still get giddy to get gifts!

And most everything I opened, I knew what to expect.

But then I opened my very last gift and was in for quite the shock...

As we sat around the table after we finished our Thanksgiving lunch, we started the story telling. We always tell stories that we've told a hundred times, but still we all get to laughing so hard at times that we can't catch our breath. Seriously, my face was in pain from laughing so hard.

And usually at some point we talk about our grandparents, and for some reason I can't remember why I said, "I really wish I had those red bells that they always hung up at Christmas, where did those go?"

We discussed the bells and then conversation moved on...

So when I opened my last gift and looked down in the bag, I just sat there in shock. I just kept looking at what looked like those red bells I had JUST BEEN TALKING ABOUT.

You guys, IT WAS THE RED BELLS.

I guess I've mentioned on several occasions how I wish I had those bells, so my dad went looking for them on eBay, and lo and behold found some.

They aren't the ones my grandparents had, but they look EXACTLY like them, and I'm guessing they are from the 50's or 60's.

I can't begin to say how happy these bells make me. I look up every night and think of my grandparents and my childhood.

I will always remember this Thanksgiving as the one with the bells.