Thanksgiving in Buffalo, NY

Holy shit it was cold, but I couldn't have been happier. This was the first Thanksgiving in a few years that I had spent with my mom, sisters, nieces, and nephew. Ryan, Ace, Chico, and I set out early as hell on Wednesday morning and made the long drive from NC to NY. Getting there took almost 12 hours but we made it incident free. As a side note, there are an alarming amount of dead deer along the sides of I-79. It's definitely an interesting ride with plenty of tunnels, tolls, mountains, and busted down trailers. Oh, and there is definitely plenty of signage so that you dont miss the opportunity to stop by Southern "X" Posure in WV. Awesome. We had a pretty enormous surprise shortly after our arrival.  We had all been led to believe that Sarah would not be able to join us this year and we all fell for it, except for her co-conspirators, Mom & Frenchy. She had been dropped down the street and arrived roughly 10 minutes after mom did, armed with a 12 pack of Stella Artois and a bad attitude, just the way we like her. We all spent the next few days eating, drinking, being merry, and freezing our asses off. It was awesome.  We laughed, played guesstures, had dance parties, snuggled, and drank an absurd amount of Irish coffee. Ace was like a rockstar. He got all the attention from the kids and all the table scraps all while Chico stayed crated in the basement rendering him unable to steal Ace's 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure that this is what Ace imagines heaven to be like. Him being the adored King and Chico being the drunken frowned upon peasant with nothing to offer anyone. Ace is currently working his way back to reality and working through what seems to be a substantial depression. Friday we went to Mighty Taco where the tacos were glorious and sold in six packs.  Then we went to Niagra Falls where the winds were gail force and there was a travel advisory for a potential wintry mix of 8-12 inches. Next up, the casino, topped off by a delicious dinner at Buffalo Chophouse. This is a glorious place with amazing atmosphere, but what really won me over was the bartender who was pouring BOGO wine. I had never heard of such gracious and generous double pours, but they do exist and they are fabulous. The Calamari was amazing and Ryan and Paul ordered steaks the size their faces. When we woke up Saturday morning there was no snow so it was time pack up and get back on the road. I felt so sad to leave my family and our three days of gluttony. It's not just my belly that's full though. My eyes are full of tears of sadness & happiness and my heart is overflowing with love for my nieces and nephew and for the rest of my family. I love y'all.