Your Typical but Necessary Thanksgiving Post

Tuesday night I was thankful for the sweet potato, roasted brussel sprouts and roast beef dinner that was waiting on the corner farm table as I pulled in the driveway from Tuscaloosa. The apple pie a la mode was nice too.

I'm thankful for coming home not just for family time and rest this break, but to see familiar faces come bursting through back door like it was just another weekend night in high school. It's times like this that remind me that regardless of how different our lives are now, just one look of them dancing around the kitchen table and recounting the past few months confirms how much has remained the same. 

I'm very thankful for that.

I'm thankful for peppermint mocha coffee with my mom.

I'm thankful to be able to make a ham-cheese-mayo-absolutely-nothing-else sandwich with a side of fritos and milk for my sick brother. I'm also thankful to be sporting my "My Spartan wears #66" button to meet up with my friends at the Mountain Brook football game this Friday, even though sometimes I catch myself thinking that I would give anything to be in a cheerleading uniform. I PROMISE I'M NOT A SUPER SENIOR. 

But then I'm thankful that I can look to my new life, my new friends, and my new place, and that longing fades away. It also helps that Trotline is at one of my favorite fraternities on Friday night and I can pile in the car with friends (see, I'm not the only one going to relieve the green and gold forever days) after the game to go be a college student again. Did I mention I'm thankful I go to school 45 minutes away?

I'm thankful that I can stumble down the stairs at 9AM, clad in my "Santa is my Homeboy" t-shirt and without a care in the world, to be greeted by a fire, James Taylor and pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes. 

I'm thankful my sorority values Christmas just as much as I do, and that my hours of studying are now accompanied by Christmas decor and the festive hum of Justin Bieber floating from my laptop.

That reminds me, I'm thankful that my Justin Bieber Christmas album is still in my glove box from last year. Really unnaturally thankful.

I'm thankful for taking my last ever math final yesterday.

Let me reiterate, 

I'm SO STINKING THANKFUL for taking my LAST EVER math final yesterday.

I'm thankful for a car ride home from Montgomery with my dad filled with good hearted joking and flipping between Finebaum and Christmas music on the radio. Also, how this serves as a reminder of how scarily similar we are. Who else worries about getting ahead on tasks four months in advance and perfectly times throwing up a tennis ball in the family pictures?

I'm thankful for the Bromberg's Christmas tree.

A bonfire with friends.

Nick Saban and the road to 15.

Infinity scarves.

Spanish moss in Pike Road, AL.

And the gentle reminder that God whispers,
"This is how much I love you. This and so much more."

To the Moon and Back,
Allie