More to Be Thankful for on Thanksgiving!

Often the first big snowstorm of the year here occurs on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  In the past our holiday travel back to see family in Chicago was often treacherous or sometimes had to be aborted at the last minute. As a Midwesterner, I’ve never enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner outdoors and sometimes entirely missed the Thanksgiving gathering altogether when Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. But this year we were invited to make use of a good friend’s empty Phoenix condo for the holidays.  Iowa had not yet sen snow but it was cold and drizzly so we wasted no time accepting this wonderful offer. Jim, I, all 3 daughters and 2 boyfriends rendezvoused in sun country and spent three fun days together.

Our friends invited us to their gorgeous Fountain Hills home for Thanksgiving dinner with them, their 3 sons, 2 daughter-in-laws and one delightful grandchild. All 15 of us enjoyed the Thanksgiving feast in 70 degree weather, out on their patio looking out at a panoramic vista of Red Mountain and the desert landscape! What a treat to dine, with the whoe family, al fresco in late November, with bougainvillea and other dry climate flowers blooming around us!

On Friday we made the most of the great weather with dips in the pool, outings to the “Butte-Hole” rock formation (lol) and the Phoenix zoo, and lunch outdoors at the Four Peaks Brewery (loved my grilled fish tacos!). That evening we headed to the Phoenix Theatre to see the musical comedy “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” 

which was lots of fun, and a late night supper at California Pizza. Saturday there was some more patio lounging, Phoenix shopping, and enjoying a “Texas-style BBQ” and country western band out on the golf greens of the local country club, and dancing to a classic rock band inside once the evening temperatures turned chilly. A full weekend, no?

It was such a good time that no one was quite ready to head back home on Sunday; we even had some tears as we separated to fly our different airlines back to Detroit, Chicago, Des Moines and Waterloo. Jim, I and Sam have the latest flight so won’t get home until after 11 tonight. I didn’t miss the traditional snowstorm one bit!!