An original recipe for a MacBlogger family Thanksgiving

1. Squeeze the longest possible travel route into the shortest amount of time, adding a layover or two for local flavor. For example, when traveling 5,390 miles round trip, I apparently prefer:

- 2 sets of 6 AM flights
- 2 layovers in Salt Lake City
- in 3 and 1/2 days

2. Sprinkle in an assortment of family, friends, and a former housekeeper you haven't seen in 20 years but is staying, once again, in your mother's spare bedroom. (Former housekeeper is optional but recommended for originality.) My highlights included:

- 2 sets of parents
- 1 set of grandparents
- 6 aunts and uncles
- 3 cousins
- 6 second cousins
- 2 bestest friends
- All seen within 48 hours

3. Serve with unlimited bottles of wine, a 28 pound turkey, homemade cookies, and a disc of never-before-seen family photos from the 1970's. Feel thankful for being born into such a good looking gene pool.

4. Bonus Tip! Enjoy all while snuggling under newly hand-sewn quilt comprised of sentimental sorority T-shirts made with love by an extremely talented and generous aunt.

Wait - what? You don't have a ridiculously talented aunt who can spin your stained, decade-old T-shirts into quilted gold? I'm so sorry. Because, look what mine did:

You may remember that I'd kept quite the collection of old college shirts around, even though they hadn't left my dresser in years. I'd heard about people turning sentimental shirts into quilts, but was never keen on the idea of sending mine off to a stranger. Shortly after I wrote that post, though, I learned that my aunt was part of a quilting club, and I asked if she would do me the honor. To my delight, she agreed, and the project has been under way ever since.

I gave her just an idea for the fabric. Burnt orange is one of my favorite colors, and is basically the foundation of my living room. I also thought it made sense with the Syracuse theme, so long as the orange erred on the side of "burnt" rather than "bright". When my aunt sent me swatches of the above, I was SO glad I had asked her - the fabric was better than anything I ever could have imagined. And I really started getting excited!

Last week she told me it was done, but I couldn't have prepared myself for seeing it person. It just blew me away. These t-shirts that had seemed stale and stained in my drawers now look perfectly in place. Logos and letters were carefully cropped so that the memories stand out - with no record of ragged edges. There are small, hand-sewn, personal details throughout, but the big picture is just... perfect. It really is one of the most absolute favorite things I own. And, oh! There may be a pillow or two, as well.

I hope all your Thanksgivings were sugar and spice and everything nice, and that we all appreciate how much we have to be thankful for.