not your traditional turkey day

I love tradition.  That said, I don't mind breaking with tradition once in a while, and we most definitely did just that this Thanksgiving.

Not my Mama's Thanksgiving dinner ...

Since we had no way to cook dinner here in our hotel, we decided to head down to the nearest Cracker Barrel for lunch.  They had a special dinner for the day ... turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin streusel pie.  Let's just say that the turkey and ham were great.  Remember how I said that I love tradition?  Well, one tradition I missed was my Mama's cornbread dressing ... moist and lightly seasoned with lots of chicken cooked in and most importantly ... absolutely no sage!  Everything was okay, but it just made me miss being at home cooking with Mama and watching (or listening to) the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while we work.  Of course, that was the Thanksgiving of my childhood and it hasn't been like that in a long time.

A birthday he won't soon forget ...

Besides celebrating Thanksgiving, we also celebrated JW's 10th birthday.  It was an unusual birthday, but I don't think he minded.  After lunch, we went to Stone Mountain Park.  I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun day.  The Polar Express 4-D experience was quite interesting.  I didn't know what the whole 4-D thing was about and I am not sure that I would want to watch an entire movie with water blowing in my face and foam snow falling from the ceiling, etc ... but the movie was pretty cool.  I think that the only thing that the kids didn't like was that it was only a 12 minute version on the movie.  While at the park, we also rode the train twice, played mini-golf, watched the Christmas parade and the fireworks show, ate supper, and even did a little shopping, which included buying myself a snowman ornament.  :o)

If I had any question about whether or not JW enjoyed his birthday, they were put to rest as I listened to him talking to my Mama on the phone as we drove back to the hotel.  He was talking 90 to nothing and fairly bubbling with excitement as he told his Grandmother about his day.  It was sweet to hear how much he enjoyed the day, even though it wasn't all about him.

Why I don't do the whole black Friday thing ...

As we drove back to our hotel, tired from our long day, we passed several Wal-mart stores with their parking lots overflowing.  I was reminded of how glad I was to be headed to my comfortable room with a nice bed and no one pushing and shoving and such.  I know that there are some people who thrive on the excitement of getting the great deals and the whole shop 'til you drop concept, but I am NOT one of those people.  I don't even bother to look at the sale papers to see what I am missing.  I am happy for those who think it is fun to line up to shop, but I don't have any desire to join them!

All in all, I would say that we had a good Thanksgiving.  I won't say that I want to travel every year, but doing something different isn't bad once in a while. 

Still, I think I'll go home and make my Mama's turkey and dressing for supper one night next week!