I had a nice few days at home in Orlando this week, and flew up to Roanoke, Virginia Wednesday evening to see my family. DOS went back to Sarasota to spend Thanksgiving with his Dad, who is 95 years old now! I flew to Charlotte on an American Airlines 321 in First Class seat 4C. The flight ran slightly late, so my already short 45 minute connection in Charlotte was quite rushed. 
Coming into gate C17 at the end of C concourse to E38 was literally as far apart as the gates could possibly be, but I made it ok, even managing to take a photo of the Christmas tree in the connecting terminal concourse.
My next flight was on a Dash-8; all one class – none. I was in seat 2D, which is actually the first row due to the exit door in front of me. I don’t mind these planes unless it’s really windy, although these propeller planes are quite noisy.
I put my earplugs in, and napped for the short 50 minute flight to Roanoke. I didn’t see the Mill Mountain ‘Star’ flying in, which is Roanoke landmark; a 100 foot neon-lit star atop the mountainside. You can see it from most places in town, but I napped as we flew past it coming into Roanoke.
My parents met me at the airport, and I drove us to their home in the countryside, near the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was quite a bit cooler than it was in Florida, but felt good actually. While it was dark when we got to the house, I could see the ‘Give Thanks’ Pilgrim plaque Mom puts up every year. I always like using that on my Facebook page on Thanksgiving. Here’s a photo of it I took the next day. Mom as always puts some Thanksgiving decorations out which is nice, as Thanksgiving often gets missed in between Halloween and the rush of Christmas.
On Thanksgiving we went to my brother Andy’s house and had quite a family feast along with Art and his daughter’s family. Andy and Art always have their place decorated for Thanksgiving as well.
I put my low-carb diet on hold for the Thanksgiving weekend! We ate at 1pm, which is earlier than normal, but we didn’t want to drive back along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway 
at night due to deer crossing the road. We feasted on traditional turkey, ham, two types of dressing, potatoes, cranberry salad, beans, rolls etc but these are the thing I ate, and there was much more. We reminisced about Thanksgiving’s past and spoke of what we are grateful for.
After dinner we took a ‘break’ from eating and shared photos and apps from our Ipads and phones. Mitchell, the 12 year old, showed us a cool app for looking at the stars and identifying constellations- really amazing!
We then each had our favorite dessert; mine was the four layer homemade carrot cake, but others chose pecan or pumpkin pie – all very filling and yummy! 
Along with our after dessert coffee, we exchanged small gifts (Christmas ornaments) and then had a traditional ‘crackers’ bust. This is an English tradition where you pull a novelty cardboard, color tasseled container apart (on the count of three!) and inside is a tiny prize, a ‘crown’, and a riddle which you have to read aloud to the group – wearing the crown of course! It’s a lot of fun, and funnier still when someones toy prize flies across the room!
Later back home I caught up with Mom and Dad and relaxed a bit. We watched the local news, which recapped the city festivities of the day such as the Drumstick run, which benefits the Roanoke Rescue Mission, one of our charities.
I didn’t do the Black Friday madness at the mall on Friday, although Dad did and soon regretted it! He didn’t go until the afternoon, and said the traffic and mall was crazy busy. I did manage to take a quick trip to Walmart; not for Christmas shopping but for a DSL filter for Mom and Dad. After dinner I gave Mom a little Hawaiian bear stuffed animal Dos and I had picked up in Maui. Later I helped them set up for the next holiday – Christmas – which is now less than a month away!
Twas a wonderful Thanksgiving and so much to be thankful for!
