I have always loved Thanksgiving Weekend.  Growing up Thanksgiving was always a big holiday in my family, family came from all over for the feast.  I have fond memories of huge Turkeys, mounds of mashed potatoes covered in butter (gravy - blech!), deviled eggs, crab cocktail (yes, my family has crab for Thanksgiving dinner) with hot sauce (or super hot sauce depending on if you dare), Yams with mini-marshmallows, salads, rolls, stuffing all served on Mom's best china. Our family tradition is to play a couple of games (Bingo and "The candy bar game") together as a family.  Each game had their own reward.  Heaven forbid you got the Old Grandma and Grandpa in the Hot Tub gift (don't ask).  We all had a great time and enjoyed being together as a family.  Once the games were done we'd break out the pies.  There were so many choices that it was near impossible figuring out which to have, so you'd just have a sliver of each. A couple of hours after Pie we'd break out the left overs and start making Turkey sandwiches.  Privately, this was one of my favorite memories growing up.  Making a turkey sandwich on a roll.  I'd put on some mayo, a little bit each of dark and light meat and dig in. Most years Mom and Dad's house would be full of fantastic smells and family members and I loved every minute of it. Growing up we also had snowmobiles, so for several years if conditions would permit we'd go snowmobiling the day after Thanksgiving.  Have you ever tried to dig a snowmobile out of a ton of fresh powder while you're stomach is still full on turkey?  It's not a lot of fun, let me tell you. While serving as a missionary, I probably missed my family more on Thanksgiving than I did at Christmas. My most favorite Thanksgiving of all time was probably my first after my mission.  I arrived home on Halloween and Thanksgiving was a few short weeks later.  I was still in missionary mode, though I was sleeping in a bit later than 6:30 and staying out later than 9:30 at that point. The previous year my parents had invited a Pennsylvania friend of mine to come over for Thanksgiving.  She (yes, I said She) was anticipating a call from her Grandparents in Idaho and possibly one from my parents in West Jordan.  She was living in Provo at the time, so either one was an option. She told herself that she'd go to which ever family called first.  It just so happened that my mom called about five minutes before her grandmother.  She spent that Thanksgiving at my parents house with them and my three sisters.  From the reports that I got, my entire family fell in love with her and thought that I needed to fall in love with her also. That just wasn't going to happen.  I was a missionary after all and I was dead set on not marrying anyone (Sister Missionary or Member) from my mission. Back to my first year home.  I had invited several additional Pennsylvania friends to spend that Thanksgiving with us.  This same girl, her sister, another friend who was attending Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) and a former Sister Missionary. We all had a great time that weekend, but something happened.  Something that I had not anticipated would ever happen, in fact I had told myself that it never would.  We started to hang out and talk, which was really strange because this girl was extremely shy, especially around the opposite sex. We really started to hit it off.  My family had been telling me that I needed to ask this girl out and I still flat out refused. We went to see the Christmas lights be turned on at Temple Square (back then there was a ceremony and literally 100,000 people downtown to see it).  I dropped everyone off at the West gate and was going to go park.  I told myself that if this girl stayed in the car with me as I parked the car (something I was sure would have to be divine intervention because she'd never do that normally) that I'd ask her out. Everyone piled out of the van, even her sister opened her door and said "Are you coming?".  Her reply was "No thanks, I'm going to go with him to park the car".  My jaw hit the floor, I couldn't believe it. After seeing the lights, we went for a drive and passed the University of Utah Married Student Housing (the "Village").  I joked with this girl that the next year she'd be living there with her new husband.  Her response was that it was I who would be living there with my new wife.  We both laughed it off and thought nothing more of it. Needless to say, I held up my end of the bargain and by the end of the weekend we were planning our first date. Oh and the next year, I was living in the "Village" with my new wife, but the joke was on her, because she was living there with her new husband also. Love you sweetie!  I am so thankful that we had that special Thanksgiving together 13 years ago, my life hasn't been the same since and that's just how I would want it.