My Very First Dolan Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving week is always hectic and full of stressors, and believe me, this year was no exception. I had agreed to go home to New Hampshire to begin some preliminary wedding discussions with my parents the weekend before the holiday, which left me little time to do all of the holiday prep that needed to be done. In the three days between the weekend and Turkey day I had quite a few things on my to-do list. To name a few:

1. Shop for ingredients and prepare 2 stuffings (My grandmother's recipe and a great way to begin integrating Dolan/Olsen traditions)
2. Pre-Bowl since I wouldn't be able to make it to bowling on Tuesday
3. Michael Buble Concert in Hershey on Tuesday night
4. Get my nails done (I know, it's not a must-do; but come on! I have to look good for the holidays AND plus Andrew was coming home
5. Help to get the house ready for Turkey Day/my parents' visit
6. Bears Game on Wednesday night
7. Pick up my Raaaaaaaanger from the airport

Not to mention, working Monday through Wednesday until at least 5! I was having a difficult time trying to figure out how I was going to make everything happen in such a short week, but then Andrew reminded me that I stay up late most nights anyways, so instead of relaxing, just cross things off the list one by one!
  

So I did! After work on Monday, I pre-bowled with Aunt Mary (and got a 149 on my first game, AWESOME!), then stopped at the grocery store before heading home. Andrew's mom gave me a $50 Giant Gift Card to buy everything I needed; and the grand total of my groceries was $48.60. Pretty perfect if you ask me! I came home to 3 of Andrew's cousins and his uncle and dad moving the huge sectional couch out of the basement! It was quite the project, but it's nice to have big strong men around to do those jobs that otherwise I would have been helping with!

I quickly ate dinner then began on the first stuffing-- My Grandmother's Sausage and Wild Rice Dressing. It sounds gross, but generally its a hit! I cooked for 3 1/2 hours on both stuffings and then Andrew's mom helped me clean the kitchen (which was a huge mess!) and then we opened a bottle of wine.... at 11:30 at night. Totally deserved that special treat! We talked for a long time about wedding plans and the upcoming deployment! I haven't been home in so many weekends and life has been going so fast lately, it was so nice to just sit down with her and just talk. I had really missed that. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but I have been so blessed with my future in-laws. I don't know what I did to deserve them, but they are already like family to me.

It was late to bed on Monday night, but it was worth it for all the fun we had laughing and talking! On Tuesday we went to see Michael Buble in Hershey and it was seriously an amazing show. There were lots of couples so it left me really missing Andrew, but I knew I would see him the next night! Tuesday was another late night, by the time he played for almost 2 hours and we got home it was already close to midnight, but if you know anything about me, you know I can never go right to bed. 

Wednesday Andrew found out around 2 that he was able to switch flights and get into Harrisburg 4 hours earlier than we had planned! SCORE! Plus Sean and I decided to shut the office down an hour early, which gave me a lot of extra time to help get the house ready and get my nails done before the Hockey Game! So even though I thought I had a huge, daunting list ahead of me, I managed to get everything done! I'm pretty impressed with myself!
  

Thanksgiving day when off without a hitch! Everyone had a blast, the kids were excellently behaved (per usual) and the food was excellent! We had dinner around 1 with the Dolans, watched some football (Patriots kicked butt!) and then went over to Uncle Doug's around 6 to send some time with the Hummer's! It was such a great day! 

Tomorrow my parents are coming into town and we are all going over to the Hotel Hershey to look at it for a wedding venue! This means as of tomorrow we will have OFFICIALLY started the wedding planning process! I'm so excited!