I had the great joy of being with my two sons and their families this past Thanksgiving. I arrived in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, November 17 for my son Tom’s 47th birthday. My younger son Mike and my 7-year-old grandson Mikey arrived at the airport 30 minutes after my plane arrived. I greeted them both at the baggage claim area. My heart burst open with love and joy when I saw the look of happiness on Mikey’s face when he saw me walking toward him.
After we gathered up our entire luggage we headed outside to Tom’s car with more joyful greeting and hugs. I was feeling immense gratitude that we would be spending our first Thanksgiving together since my sons became parents of their own children.
We drove a short distance to a fast food restaurant where we joined up with my awesome daughter-in-law Tuey, her mother and my sweet soon to be 6-year-old granddaughter Kayla. My grandkids greeted one another with squeals of laughter and bear hugs while we videotaped it all. My grandkids climbed in the back seat of Tuey’s car with me while my sons drove off together in Tom’s car.
We all headed to Fort Worth to witness the tree lighting ceremony at the town center at 6 pm, which was quite impressive. We arrived too late for a Santa visit so we decided to get dinner at a nearby restaurant. There was over an hour wait at all the restaurants in the downtown area due to the huge crowd so we headed away from the hustle and bustle and found a charming pizzeria to fill our hungry stomachs.
The next day was Kayla’s 6th birthday, which we celebrated at Dave and Busters. It was my first visit to this restaurant and all the machines and noise overwhelmed me. But the food was excellent and watching my grandchildren play and laugh made for a wonderful day.
The rest of the trip was filled with my grandchildren playing together as we visited the zoo complete with a visit to Santa, arboretum and trampoline playground. We all put the Thanksgiving meal together which turned out great. I gave thanks to my son and his lovely wife for opening their home for us all to be together on my favorite holiday. I will cherish this memory forever.
