New Traditions

It's been two years this Thanksgiving since Stephanie and family, Laura, and I have been together for the holidays. About a month ago Stephanie and Laura treated Jim and I to a visit. What wonderful memories of family life that time brought back! Us three girls in the same house, laughing and sharing! While that time was nice, I sure will miss them this Thanksgiving.

Since my girls graduated college and moved away, I have been the traveling person, especially once the grandchildren came along. So, this is a very long stretch for me to stay still and miss all those hugs. We're thinking that the week after Christmas might be a better time for us to travel and spend time in Virginia with Stephanie, Vern, Kat, and Heath who will be enjoying their school break. In the meantime, Jim and I will be having bonus Thanksgiving celebrations.

As I write this, I can't help but remember the taste of the delicious pork tenderloin cooked for us earlier this week by Jim's daughter and son-in-law, Leslie and Slade, as we celebrated early in Tyrone, GA. On Thanksgiving Day, we will celebrate with Jim's son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and April, in Roswell. The holidays have felt even more full of love and fun since I joined the McCann family and was gifted with bonus sons and daughters – Todd, Kevin, and Leslie, and their spouses, Lisa, April, and Slade, as well as six grandchildren and four granddogs!

I will truly miss being at the airport with everyone traveling for the holiday. Holiday travel may be crowded and hectic, but I enjoy the anticipation as we all wait to be with loved ones again, taking comfort in old traditions or finding joy in new traditions, as I will be doing this year. Two Thanksgiving dinners with my bonus family is a new tradition! After all that good food and fun time with family, I suppose that will mean extra miles on the treadmill for me.

I will be thinking of you and your family as you enjoy your old Thanksgiving traditions or make some new ones. Please let us know if we at Gabriel's can do anything to make your holiday more delicious. We have homemade casseroles and some from scratch desserts still available. Visit us at the store, online at www.gabrielsdesserts.com, or call us at 770-427-9007.

Fondly,

Johnnie Gabriel-McCann