Thanksgiving this year was a bit different for me. I got the whole week of Thanksgiving off from school but I wasn’t able to head home until Wednesday because of my job. We spent the night at his mom’s so we could still visit with her since we were spending Thanksgiving day with my family. We ordered pizza and watched a couple movies (the Sixth Sense and Monty Python and the Holy Grail – both on our IMDB 250 list!).

Thanksgiving morning we drove to my parents’. My mom fixed the works: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, rolls, and pretzel jello salad (sounds gross, but it is delicious). My aunt brought homemade pumpkin and apple pies, my uncle brought corn casserole, and a cousin brought sodas. It was wonderful not having to cook!

We ate and laid around and then ate some more. It was good to see all of my cousins and aunts and uncles. We flipped through Black Friday ads but had absolutely no desire to go out and shop in that madness. The conversation turned to movies and we decided to go see something. Most of the guys took my dad to see Spectre while most of the girls (plus Andrew!) went to see Mockingjay Part 2.

This was a different experience, to say the least. We went to a Dine-in theatre, which I had never been to before, but I had heard positive things about. You are able to reserve your seats, so we figured we would try it and we wouldn’t have to get there early to beat the crowd. We arrived and found our seats, which had little trays that you could swivel over your lap. A server came and introduced herself to us and took our order. I just wanted a popcorn since everything on the menu seemed a little pricey to me.

It took probably twenty minutes to bring the popcorn (I honestly would have preferred just getting it from the concession stand myself). We split it and then needed a refill, so our server took the tub. The theater was full when the movie started. It was really distracting as they began to bring the food out. The lady in front of us argued with the server about what she got because it apparently wasn’t what she ordered. One of the servers stomped up and down the stairs, breathing so heavily that I was concerned that he was okay. Some servers were even taking orders still.

We never got our popcorn refill. My sister finally stopped the server and she said we never gave the tub back to her. After some more mild excuses, she brought out our popcorn. By now it was halfway through the movie and I was annoyed I was just now getting my $8 popcorn. I was really trying to get into the movie, but there were just too many distractions with the servers walking around and guests asking for another drink or another straw, people just eating (do people not know how to eat quietly?) etc. When there was probably 15 minutes left of the movie, another waiter brought a popcorn out to us. We were confused, because we didn’t order another one. They brought our bill out to us in one of the most emotional parts of the film and then when it was over, we had to wait in line to get our credit card back.

So overall, if you asked me what I thought of the new Hunger Games movie, I really couldn’t give you an honest opinion because I couldn’t focus on the movie. Andrew just thinks that the theater was understaffed – which I totally understand on a holiday, but the Dine-In still isn’t something that I would recommend. It was just way too distracting. (Also, is this just an American thing? Do movie theaters in other countries serve food and drinks?)

We slept in on Friday and my mom cooked a big breakfast for us. My sister and I headed to Kohl’s about 10:45am – late enough that hopefully all of the crazy shoppers would be done and out of the way! I found a Columbia coat that was originally $120 marked down to $80, and then with my coupons got it for $50. I was pleased with my purchase though because my old coat I have had since my freshman year of high school, so I was really past due for a new one.

We headed to Target afterwards “just to look” which we both knew would not end up happening. I bought a blue cardigan that was marked down to $13 which I was so excited about since normally the ones I find are twice that price! I also found a couple of movies that were only $4. And that’s the extent of my Black Friday shopping.

We met with Andrew’s dad for a quick lunch before Andrew headed back to Kansas City. He had to work over the weekend, but I stayed a bit longer to hang out with my mom and sister. It’s been really hard to come home and visit since I started my new internship, so this break was really needed.

To my American friends, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! To my Canadian friends, very belated Thanksgiving wishes to you! And to the rest: a wonderful weekend as well.