5 Years of Marriage and 1 Thanksgiving Day

I know we are already fully submerged into the Christmas season, but I need to backtrack a little bit...
Our Anniversary.
We came up with a *brilliant* plan to take some time off, arrange for child care, and spend some quality time together...working on home improvement projects. As desperate as I was to finish painting our walls prior to the wallpaper disaster that was here when we bought the house, I will never again suggest doing this as a celebration of our marriage. Don't get me wrong, everything looks so much better now, and I love home decorating (which I feel entitled to do now that we don't have damaged walls in our master bedroom), Mike and I didn't fight while we worked or anything like that, but our house was a mess for a week or so, our kids felt abandoned, and it was stressful because we had more work than time. Instead of going out to eat, relaxing and enjoying eachother's company, we spent most of the week complaining about the previous owners and their obsession with wallpaper. I guess it's worth it in a practical sense, because it feels good to get things done, but I tend to be pretty sentimental about things like anniversaries. In the end, I am just grateful to be married and have a home to work in, although I vow that next year I won't be splattering plaster on the walls on November 17th.
In my mind, the perfect plan was to have everything finished and cleaned up by Thanksgiving day, when my brothers and sister came over to celebrate with us. It was really exciting to clean up our projects and cook almost an entire Thanksgiving dinner all in one day. It was great though, to have my family come and spend the day with us, and see my kids in their natural habitat. The food turned out really well (and usually I am not so impressed with my own cooking, fortunately Mike will eat anything with calories), and there was plenty to go around.
As I was preparing the turkey, I thought about my Grandma Brown who passed away this last April. One year ago, I helped her get the turkey ready for the oven at her house, and she talked with me about cancer. We knew then that she was sick, but not how little time she had left. Attached to this memory is one that I will never forget: saying goodbye to her the very last time, and her reaching for my hand one more time and telling me, "you [meaning my brothers and sisters and I] stay close to each other, you are family and that is the most important thing." She is right. Family is so important, and I am grateful to know that families are an eternal principle and our loving associations with family members may continue on after this life.