A [Not So] DIY Thanksgiving

With the holiday season in full swing, I have been thinking quite a lot about holiday traditions, and how different families celebrate each holiday.

For me, I have two vastly different families. My mother's family takes holiday time VERY seriously. From the food, to the decorations, to the seating arrangements, it is all very thought out and calculated, and all day from scratch (food, decor, etc.).

However, my dad's family is not like that at all. Where they have an array of other talents and skills, domesticity is not high up on that list. This past Thanksgiving, my brother, sister, dad, and Grandma (dad's mother) packed up in the car in Jacksonville, Fl. and made our way down to Miami where my dad's sister and family live. My brother, sister, and I love making trips to Miami. We are very close to our cousins, and it is always a really nice, warm time.

However, our Thanksgiving Day wasn't all that traditional. We spent the mid part of the day through the early evening wondering around South Beach and Lincoln Road, eating pizza, and enjoying each other's company. When we finally made it pack to my aunt's house, we began to unpack Thanksgiving dinner. That's right, you heard me... Unpack Thanksgiving Dinner. In the picture above, you will see my father (whom I adore more than anything in this world) and my aunt (who always makes me laugh) furiously unfoiling the entire Thanksgiving feast purchased, entirely, already made from Publix (the big grocery store in Florida). These two INCREDIBLY educated human beings (my dad an accountant, my aunt an attorney, and her husband, who isn't pictured, also an attorney) did not think they could put together a Thanksgiving meal by themselves. Our joke that evening was "Have you heard the one about the CPA and attorney who tried to make a Thanksgiving dinner..."

But when you think about, this is tradition in itself. My dad's family isn't the group to gather in the kitchen and cook while spending time with each other. They are... we are, the more get up and go do something type of people, and it was a delicious Thanksgiving!