Now I can tell the rest of the Fanksgiving story.....the part I couldn't tell until the news was out.
Russ and I used Fanksgiving to share our news with everyone. We planned it for weeks--pretty much from the moment we found out ourselves actually. It was quite a long time to wait, and quite a secret to keep. I was convinced that everyone would figure it out before Fanksgiving, but we managed to fool almost everyone.
Anyway, at Fanksgiving we do a Yankee Swap--everyone brings an unwrapped gift, then we all choose numbers. Number one unwraps a gift. Number 2 can either take the gift from number one or unwrap a new gift. And so on and so forth. Well, Russ and I decided that our Fanksgiving Yankee Swap gift would be our announcement. We brought a rather large, colorful bag, filled with gifts for our immediate family. The two sets of parents got framed pictures of the first ultrasound, my sister got an Aunt frame, my sister and brother in law got a Red Sox bib, my two nieces each got a book about a new baby and my brother got a tiny Red Sox t-shirt. The real Yankee Swap gift was the movie Knocked Up (in keeping with the theme)!
So picture this....we've planned this for weeks. Russ and I arrive at Fanksgiving at 12ish. Dinner is at 6, Yankee Swap sometime after that around 8ish. It was a loooooonnnnnggggg time to wait. And a long time to keep my mouth shut and pretend to not be pregnant. The icing on the cake of course was the grape juice. Because we knew everyone would be scrutinizing us, Russ and I smugged grape juice in a flask. He kept pouring my "wine" for me....very surreptiously I might add! Apparently that trick worked well, because I later found out that the whole family noticed I was drinking "wine" and were convinced I wasn't pregnant.
So, Yankee Swap starts....and NO ONE is picking our bright, colorful, rather large bag! My anticipation was through the roof at this point....finally, it's my sister's turn to pick and my favorite Cosette chose our bag. Thank YOU Cosette! Tina discovers all of the presents in the bag and distributes them, with some help from me. Momentary confusion on everyone's faces with comments of "Wait, this isn't how Yankee Swap is supposed to work!", dawning realization on others and then finally, with the first ripping of paper:
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
Tears and screams and hugs and general joy. Lots of questions, more hugs, more conversations, more screams.
It was everything I wanted it to be and probably the most perfect way to share our joyous news.
4 comments:
AAAAHHHHHAAHAHHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHHHHH!
The best surprise ever!
Love Mom S xoxoxoxo
Oh how I would have wrangled an invite if we were around just so we could have seen everyone's faces! So fun!!
Nessa
I just got chills reading this.
What a GREAT way to spread the news.
Beth & I had even been discussing that if you weren't drinking wine at Fake Thanksgiving she'd have a clue you were preggers...
I am impressed you and Russ are such good actors!!!
I'll always remember hearing Mom S. screaming at the exact moment I opened up the Knocked Up DVD and realized you were pregnant... that'll be a story we will share forever!
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