Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving weekend at home this year.  It’s not the first time we haven’t celebrated with extended family, but is the first time that our kids haven’t celebrated Thanksgiving with their cousins.  We had a great time though!

Steve and I decided on a tasty but simple menu.  Neither of us wanted to spend all day in the kitchen cooking or cleaning.  Steve made a smoked turkey that was out of this world!  It rivaled Rudy’s!  It was SO good!  We made stuffing, Granny’s mac and cheese, rolls and baked potatoes.  It was so yummy!  And it was an easy clean up – all cleaned up by 1:00 p.m.

We talked to the kids about the history and meaning behind Thanksgiving.  We read them the book “Squanto and The Miracle of Thanksgiving.”  It’s amazing how God can use one man to change the course of a nation!  During dinner we took turns sharing what we’re thankful for.  Our kids were so amazing!  They thanked God for everything from family to toys to flowers to food.  It was a lot of fun, and it was really neat to hear my kids (mostly Claire) express their gratitude.  God has blessed us immensely, and we are truly thankful!

If you follow Cale’s blog, then you know that we got his train table Wednesday night.  Steve put it together Thursday morning, and he and the kids played with it while we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I, of course, was going through Black Friday ads.  It was so nice and relaxing.

We had pizza for dinner and then went shopping when the stores opened at 8:00 p.m.  We were home by 10:00 p.m.  The Black Friday shoppers here are not nearly as crazy as those in Tulsa or Houston.  There were no crazy lines while we were out.  Even Toys R Us was easy to get in and out of on Thursday night.  We got some fabulous deals.  On Friday we didn’t head out until about 10:00 a.m. – the latest I have ever headed out on Black Friday.  We still got many amazing deals and had so much fun!

Just a few of my Black Friday deals – birthday t-shirts for the kids for next year, Cale’s train table, an Easy Bake Oven for Claire, some DVDs (the kids will get them for Advent), a few items at Build-A-Bear, including the limited edition Christmas dress for $6 (Claire will get this for Advent) and a few other items for Claire’s birthday, a French fry cutter for Steve, etc.  But my favorite and best deal was this little gem.

It’s currently holding all of our Christmas books.  I LOVE this train!

Black Friday was Cale’s second birthday, so we took him to “Cheeseburger King” for lunch.  He ran and played hard.  It was so much fun!  We celebrated him a lot the weekend before in anticipation of a busy weekend, but we still made a big deal of his birthday on Friday.

On Saturday we made pies.  They were so yummy!

And we decorated our house for Christmas.  It looks fabulous, even if I do say so myself.  I always think a house looks best when it’s all dressed up for the holidays.  I didn’t put everything up this year.  This house has a completely different layout than anywhere else we’ve lived.  I had a hard time finding a place for everything, but I love the things we ended up with.

Our front window (The picture honestly does not do it justice, but I can’t manage to get a better picture.)

In the dining room

The stairwell

Our tree and Santa

Our coffee table

Our mantle

Cale’s room

Claire’s room

And, of course, Claire’s “dollhouse” needed lights.

I have a few other Christmas items tucked here and there, but these are the best highlights.

On Sunday morning Santa delivered The Elf on the Shelf to Claire.  (Yes, I got sucked in!  But our elf is not mischievous.  She just plays hide-and-seek with our kids every morning.  And I don’t use her as a discipline technique either.  She’s just for fun.)  Claire has named her Snowflake.

She wanted her daddy to read her the book right away.

Claire’s favorite of Snowflake’s hiding places so far.

Sunday morning we went to church (Claire saved up her money to buy this snowflake dress.  We bought it on Friday.  She was so excited to get to wear it!)

I wrapped Christmas gifts while the kids took their naps.  After they awoke, we watched a Christmas movie (one of the DVDs that I bought on Black Friday and the kids got for Advent) and ate popcorn.

Monday we woke up to snow on the ground, and it’s still snowing.  It’s beautiful!  My hubby tried to stay ahead of it by shoveling the driveway.

Last night he had to pull out the snow blower.  He was able to clear our drive and our neighbors’ drive in about an hour. 

The temperatures are dropping.  The high today is 9.  Tomorrow the high is 3.  On Saturday our high is 0.  A high of 0?!  Really?  Baby, it’s REALLY cold outside!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and we are so thankful for all of our blessings.  We are now gearing up for Christmas – only 20 days to go!