18th Birthday/An Unconventional Thanksgiving

 The week started by celebrating a very special boy's 18th birthday.  I cannot believe how quickly these years have gone and now my boy is officially an adult.  When he gives us attitude, which happens more often than it should, I remind him how I can now kick him out the door ... but I wouldn't.  I couldn't.  He's certainly not ready.  I'm not ready.  I remember going to prayer and asking God to allow me the blessing to be a mother, promising Him that I will raise my children to know Him.  Very quickly those two lines appeared on the test and everything from that point on changed.  I hold tightly to all the memories, feel a lot of regret over the mistakes I have made as a mom, and cherish the current moments.  Matthew, you are a gift and I am so grateful for you.  

On Tuesday we went to a dinner in Hershey to celebrate all of the recent Eagle Scouts in the area.  It was a nice event with delicious food and recognition.  

And of course, it wouldn't make sense to have an event in Hershey without the best chocolate scattered as the centerpiece of each table.  

A thought had come to mind recently about an idea to do something together as a family instead of having our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at home.  We usually host with my parents and in-laws in attendance.  I gave Rob and the kids the choice and they all agreed in wanting to do something outside of the home.  My kids don't even like turkey and all of the sides (they are weirdos, I know) and after some issues of last and previous Thanksgivings I wanted a break from family drama.   Eye rolls from the mother-in-law and sister-in-law, insults from my father ... yeah, I'll admit to having to deal with those things.  As much as I enjoy the food, I felt it was a good idea to just get away.  Why not?  Do we really need to do things the traditional way all the time?  I think not.  

The day began with the kids running in the nearby Turkey Trot.  My son medaled; second best time in his age group.  Our original plan of the day was not going to work out so we headed into Philadelphia, which is a few hour drive from us.  None of us have ever walked around this city and we wanted to check it out.  It was amazing to see how many people were still walking around, even though many stores were closed for the holidays.  Sadly, there were a lot of homeless, either sleeping on the sidewalks or begging for money.  

We saw tall buildings.  

The Liberty Bell

The famous LOVE statue.  It's much smaller than I thought it was.  

The Christmas tree is now set up.  We did not stay long enough to see it lit up, though.  

And ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.  Cheeseburgers took the place of the turkey.  

We promised the kids we would take them back on a warmer day when all of the stores and museums are open.  Philadelphia is mostly what I thought it would be and I would have no problem going back. 

Maybe that's not your idea of a good Thanksgiving but for us it was enjoyable.  Don't ever be afraid to step away from what everyone considers the norm.