Thanksgiving Weekend

Ahhh... Thanksgiving... The final stop before we all jump on the Christmas train! A day to spend with family, a day to reflect on what you're thankful for, a day to eat until you couldn't possibly eat another bite, a day to watch football, a day to sleep so that you're able to get up at 3 o'clock the following morning to participate in 'BLACK FRIDAY'... Thanksgiving means different things to everyone. To me, it was a day to spend with family and a day to reflect on the many blessings that the Lord has given me. What did Thanksgiving mean t0 you?

On Thanksgiving morning we headed over to my parents house fairly early. The kids rode bikes and 'helped' Grandpa while my mom and I started dinner and B went on a wild goose chase around town (THANKS, B!) to find me a copy of the Press Democrat so that i could peruse the Black Friday ads to find out if there was REALLY anything out there worth getting up at 3 am for (since my shopping was pretty much done, I was figuring probably not...). When B returned with my paper (and finished checking out the ads himself) he and my dad took the kids to an empty parking lot to ride bikes while my mom and I finished preparing dinner.

Taking the training wheels off...

After bike riding and a quick stop at Starbucks, the troops returned and B went to work (SORRY, B!) while the rest of us rested. Soon we were awakened by my sister and brother-in-law and cousins Joe and Matthew. Joe and Matthew immediately took Big A and Little A and went off to play. They were SO good with the kids! They played in the barn, in the dirt pile, on the swing set, in the back room, and in the bedroom, and never once complained or treated the kids poorly, or anything. Joe and Matthew, YOU ROCK!

My sister wanted to take a picture of her boys for their Christmas cards but they wouldn't stand for it so I kind of tricked them into letting me take a picture without them really knowing what I was doing (SORRY, GUYS!). I told them I wanted a picture of them with A & A, but then went on and took one of A & A by themselves and then one of the boys by themselves. Sly, huh? I can't wait to see their Christmas cards!

There's something that gets me about meals in general, but Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially... You spend hours shopping, prepping and cooking and you start out with a BEAUTIFUL table that looks something like this...

You gather everyone around, say a blessing, pass the food, eat, drink, talk a little and within thirty minutes, you have this...

I just don't get it... We could order KFC, save TONS of time, money and effort, and STILL be able to enjoy the company and the spirit of the day... Just a thought!

During dinner Little A put olives on all of her fingers. I'm sure you've done that, right? I know I have! But that's not the funny part... The funny part is that as soon as she had them on all ten fingers, she folded her hands, bowed her head and started in... "Dear, God... Thank you for...." TOO CUTE!

After dinner we cleaned up, ate dessert, visited a bit more and said our goodbyes. I had tired kids and a RAGING headache and couldn't wait to get home and crawl into bed.

It turns out that there was nothing I couldn't live without in any of the Black Friday sales, but Little A and I did get up around 8 o'clock Friday morning and go shopping. The beauty of shopping with Little A is that she's still young enough that I can get away with buying things for her when she's with me. She's kind of a tough one to shop for because she never asks for things and even when she does, she plays with it for a second in the cart and then says, "I'm done. You can put it back." On one hand this is a blessing because she never argues about not getting things in the store but on the other hand it makes it difficult to buy gifts so I was happy when she found a baby and a couple of Littlest Pet Shop things she actually wanted to keep with her.

After shopping with Little A we picked up Big A and B and did a bit more shopping, then headed back to my parents' house so my mom and I could do some MORE shopping. Friday was pretty much a shopping day! Saturday on the other hand... THAT was a play day! We spend a few hours playing at our friends' house then came home to nap. After naps we met the same friends for dinner and ice cream then did a WEE bit more shopping before returning home and ordering our Christmas cards.

Today was like most Sundays... Church in the morning, relaxing afternoon, and Grandma and Grandpa coming over for dinner. Wait... Did I say relaxing afternoon? In THIS house? Are you kidding? Today we tried to "Christmify" our house both inside and out but never quite got there. I now have a half decorated house and boxes piled everywhere. But you my friends, are more important than finishing my Christmas decorations... I couldn't leave you hanging for two days so I chose blogging over decorating. Whatever, sue me! But don't tell my kids I was blogging instead of decorating, okay? Deal? GOOD!

And remember that dinner I mentioned? The one where my parents came over for a home cooked meal? Yeah... That kind of turned into ordering pizza when the new recipe I was trying didn't cook QUITE as fast as the recipe said it would. So that meal has now traveled home with Grandma and Grandpa where I will reheat it for dinner tomorrow night. One of the reviews said the meal is better the second day anyhow, so we shall see!

All in all it was a GREAT weekend and I feel like I accomplished SO much!