Sweet Southern Pearl

My Thanksgiving actually turned out really well, after fearing that it wouldn't.  I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  There's nothing else like it. I love having lunch at Granny's house.  There were a lot of people there this year, including my cousin's new little baby, Ellie.  She is so freakin cute and I love holding her!!   my brother and Ellie. AWW After lunch, Zach and I went shooting at his house.  I shot a handgun for the first time! haha At dinner time, my dad, brother, Zach, sister, and I went to the homeless shelter to help feed people.  It was truly an amazing experience.  There wasn't that much for us to do, since there were so many volunteers, but I plan on going back and helping serve dinner at least once every other week. After that, we went to my mom's friend's house (her family is like family to us).  She had made deer meat and we also had barbecue.  Mmmm. Good food, good friends. After ...

Very early on Thanksgiving morning.  Not gonna lie, I'm excited to go back to sleep after I write this, watch the parade on TV, have lunch at Granny's (we've always gone there for lunch on holidays) and see my little baby cousin, and whatever else we do.  There's a new little person in our family that wasn't here last year.  And she's adorable and I'm excited to see her.  But there's also someone missing.  Someone very important.  This is the first Thanksgiving without Grandma.  The first major holiday without her at that.  This is a day I've dreaded for years, being the worrywart that I am.  I knew at some point, she wouldn't be with us anymore and a holiday would come when we couldn't go to her house at supper time and eat all of her delicious food that I love so much and will never truly experience again.  I think it was a lot harder to anticipate this day when she was still alive than it is now, although I am getting a little em...