Author: Allie Zottola

Our First Thanksgiving As A Family

Jimmy, Sadie, and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving together and it was just as special as I imagined it would be. We didn’t have any big plans for the day, which was perfect for us.

Sadie and Jimmy slept in a little (!), so I used the quiet time in the morning to brew a pot of coffee, hang out with the pets, and get to work on some baking. I made mini pumpkin pies and prepped the turkey.

Mini pumpkin pies

Soon everyone was up and ready for the day so I fed Sadie and then we relaxed in her room and read her a few books.

It was really nice to have Jimmy home in the morning and take things slow. We kept telling Sadie happy Thanksgiving and were imagining her eating turkey next year… crazy!

Girl reading to baby

We spent the day relaxing around the house, cooking, and enjoying each other’s company. I could spend every day just like that and be content.

At one point, I turned to Jimmy and said “Can you believe we’re a family, us three?” and he just smiled as big as I was and said he couldn’t believe it. God has been very, very kind to us and we have so much to be thankful for.

I made jalapeño mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans, and gravy while Jimmy and Sadie cheered me on from the kitchen table. Our little gal is so observant. She just furrows her brow and watches the world around her.

Soon enough it was time for dinner! We pulled the turkey out of the oven, Jimmy carved it, and I set the table with the china from our wedding.

I need to use our china more often because we love the pattern and it reminds us of the day we made our wedding registry (<–I looked back on that post and why…. why was I wearing a Pikachu shirt in the last picture?! LOL.).

Thanksgiving dinner

After dinner we headed out into the cold weather (Pittsburgh didn’t break 30 degrees the whole day!) and made two trips to see Jimmy’s family.

I had fun dressing Sadie up in a turkey dress and then got sad that it would be the last time she would wear it. Little did I know that I’d be changing her out of it before we finished visiting everyone, lol.

The holidays feel extra special now, and it’s such a joy to see our families with little Sader Tot! Before we knew it we were back home snuggling on the couch and reminiscing on what a lovely day we had.

It was a great first Thanksgiving as a family and we felt incredibly blessed to have the day together to reflect on all we have to be thankful for!

Tell me about your Thanksgiving!

How’s The Book Going?

If you’ve been reading my blog for a few years, you may remember I started writing a book in 2016.

I picked away at it in my free time over the past few years, and I’m literally so close to being done with the first draft. I’ve been saying that for months because I haven’t worked on it in months!

Life has been busy, but I haven’t given up on my little writing adventure. I recently took a peek at the document and saw that I was a little over 81,000 words into the book.

I didn’t think I could just jump back into writing without rereading the whole book since it had been a few months since I last wrote so I took a plunge and had my draft printed as is.

I ordered from a website that binds and publishes books for a great price, so I didn’t feel too bad spending $10 (including shipping!) to have a copy of my almost-finished book printed, coil bound (for easy editing!), and shipped to my door.

Girl holding first draft of novel

Jimmy and I were leaving the house and there was my book in our mail slot! I had him take a picture to commemorate the moment 🙂

Now I can have the book physically in front of me as a hard copy to read and edit. After I do that, I’ll work on finishing this baby up! I can’t wait. At the same time I’m crazy nervous and also dreading the editing process. I have all kinds of feelings about this, basically 😉

As I mentioned before, I’m not sure if I’ll pursue publishing it. It just depends on whether or not I like the story line and how I wrote it. I’m okay with that because it has been fun to explore different topics through the creative outlet of writing. We’ll see!

Just wanted to give an update since I’ve had a few people ask if I’m still working on it!