I am always *so* ready to be home after holiday traveling. We always have a great time with our families, but by the time we leave I am definitely ready to be home with my cats and sleeping in my own bed.

Our travels for Thanksgiving began Thursday morning. I had to work, so we left from the station and headed to my parents’ house. We visited and helped finish the preparations for Thanksgiving dinner, and then sat down for a nice dinner with my grandparents and parents. It was fun just hanging out and talking.

After lunch, we headed back across the driveway to my parents’ house where Joe and I vegged out and watched tv for the rest of the afternoon. That evening, headed to the movie theater — our Thanksgiving Day tradition — and saw “Transporter 3”, which we really liked.

On Friday, Joe and I headed out to the mall after breakfast. We hadn’t planned on going shopping because I hate dealing with crowds, but I found a winter coat at J.C. Penney on sale from $180 to $40 and, since I needed a coat, I decided I couldn’t let that deal pass by. Then, we hit Barnes and Noble and McKay, the fabulous used bookstore in Chattanooga, and came away with enough books to last for a year.

After our shopping excursion, we packed up our things and left to go to Joe’s parents’ cabin in Blue Ridge. We discovered the last time we drove from the cabin to my parents’ house that it’s a pretty straight shot from Cleveland, Tenn., where my parents live. You hit Georgia not too far past the Ocoee River in Polk County, and Blue Ridge is about another 20 minutes or so from there. Plus, one side of the main street going through Copperhill, Tenn. is in Tennesse and the other is in Georgia. Of course, being the dorks that we are, we had to get pictures.

There were a lot of people at the cabin when we arrived — 14 to be exact. It was hectic, but it was great. Nana was there along with her brother and sister-in-law from South Carolina and their daughter, son-in-law and grandson; and Nana’s brother-in-law and his wife were there from Florida, as were their son and his partner, who live in Atlanta. And, of course, Joe’s parents, and Rachel and Dave were there. It was a great gathering.

We had fun, but we were glad to escape to a family friend’s house where we were staying. The next day, we took a group picture before people started leaving. It’s hard to corral that many people, but we did it and got a great picture.

On Saturday night, Joe and I headed back to meet some friends in Kennesaw. Joe’s best friend Philip and his wife, Nayeli, were visiting from Arizona, and we hadn’t seen them in a year or so. Joe’s other friend Jon and his wife, Michelle, came too. The three guys hadn’t been together since our wedding!

And yes, I was the odd person out in the picture since my hubby took it. Ha! It was a great weekend, but I was very happy to get home. That is until I tried to download our pictures and found out that our card reader had stopped reading. Luckily, we got that fixed by Sunday night and now all is well in our world.