A boy and a Chevy

Nik and I flew to Tennessee this year for a family Thanksgiving that involved the annual Sinz reunion, a four kid toy fest, a fifty pie feast, a four-man RISK match, a seven adult puzzle competition, a new swing push-off, a three turkey dinner, a mother-daughter attic clean-up, a one-month-early Christmas, and a Black Friday camp-out. Oh, and then there was a soccer-girls+husbands chinese lunch and a good-ole friend meet-up. The four day weekend was fantastic, and ended with us missing our flight because I was never notified that it had been moved an hour early. Thank goodness I don’t have a husband that gets upset about things like that…oh wait, I do. But I think he has forgotten it by now!!

Thank you, family, for being my family.

Tennessee Sunrise

When I arrived home last Tuesday, my mom, dad and I had one day to prepare the house and our sanity for the rush of family and friends for the feast. We cleaned the house, went to the grocery store, baked pies, boiled cranberries, hung lights and enjoyed the stillness of a house of three.

Hay-bale Turkey

Then over the next two days, our family members joined us a hand full at a time. First my brother and sister-in-law flew in from Colorado with their 1-year-old and new-born in tow. Next, my sister and brother-in-law drove down from Kentucky with their two little girls. The next day, the Nashville crew arrived in batches of 2-5. We had dinner in my father’s shop and used his workbench as the buffet table. It was the perfect dining hall for 30, and unfortunately I didn’t take nearly enough photos.

The dinner table

After the big dinner, there were plenty of leftovers to feed my parents, siblings, nieces, nephew and I for four days…and that is exactly what we ate. In fact, my brother ate the last serving of dressing five minutes before his family left for the airport four days after Thanksgiving!

We also spent an afternoon taking photos in my parents backyard. We used to go to a park to take family photos, but now that they live in the country, we just have to walk out side! I have a feeling that this will be a tradition that we keep up for a very long time.

The Family

Aubrey

Reagan

Daddy & Daughter

Me and my big sister

It is amazing how as soon as there are kids in the family, the attention shifts and family becomes even more crucial than ever before. My brother, sister and I have become much more nostalgic and we keep asking Mom and Dad, “Did we do that when we were their age?” My nieces and nephew are just so wonderful, but perhaps I am a little biased.

My favorite shot of the little ones

My thoughts are with my family today in Tennessee

The wind chime that used to hang on my grandfather's back porch, but now hangs on my parents'. It has the best ring and does so at the tiniest gust. I love it.

Hay bails at the farm next door.

It is supposed to be 5˚F today in Tennessee, but I don't think we're going to make it since it's 50˚F right now. Regardless, the water from heavy rains last week is still frozen and make it look cold!

Do you ever wonder if a double wide could be cool? I think they could.

The Sweetgum seed pod, nature's version of the Christmas ornament.

It kind-of looks like that could be a normal size house, but it's not. It's more the size of a large bird house.

Americana at its best.

Another house, this one has a old rusted plow in the front. I love these little bits of the country in moderation.

I think this is an old canning shed...or bomb shelter.

A lot of tobacco is grown in Tennessee, and this is the side of a barn used to fire-cure the tobacco leaves which produces pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff. Fire Curing is a process that dries tobacco by hanging it in a large barn, and then a low hardwood fire is kept burning continuously for up to 10 weeks. I was here a couple years ago during the curing time, and it was amazing. As we drove down Hwy 25 we would smell the hardwood fire first, then we would see these huge red barns covered with green ivy smoking to the high heavens. I am not a fan of tobacco smoking or chewing, but the curing process is pretty phenomenal.

This is my childhood dog, Copper (Fox and the Hound reference), brought back to life. She sneaks up on me every time I walk down her road and simply nudges my hand begging for recognition.

Horse fences

A fallen log that happens to be the perfect bridge over a small stream.

And of course, the Cows. There are probably 30 cows that graze in the land across the street from my parents' house, and when I was behind the trees they were all sitting in the shade on the other side. When they heard me, every single one of them stood up and ran away to a more comfortable distance, then they watched in fear as I took their photo. I guess they're not as used to pedestrians as the ones in India.

So this is how I’ve been spending my days. Pretty nice.