Vai rolar a festa....: Thanksgiving Holiday

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! This year for Thanksgiving we had Aunt Sarah and Uncle Fred (a.k.a. SarahFred) over for Thanksgiving. It was a busy day cooking wise since I didn't make anything the day before. I made the apple pie in the morning and everything else pretty much at the same time. It got a little crazy in the kitchen as Fred was making stuffing, Sarah was making corn pudding and candied yams and I was making mashed potatoes and rolls, all at the same time. The turkey was cooking through most of that but the gravy was being made too. It all turned out and shortly after 1:30 pm we sat down to eat. It was so yummy!! I am so thankful for all the food we had and all the leftovers we have! Aside from the above mentioned goodies we also had cranberry walnut pudding, cranberry sauce, olives, regular corn, pumpkin pie and ice cream! Bacon even got in on the Thanksgiving spirit with his sweet potatoes and oatmeal mixture.

I took a long nap after clean-up while the others watched a movie, well only Zach, the others all napped too.

Later in the evening we had pie and ice cream while we visited and cleaned more of the kitchen. I think we ran the dishwasher 3 times maybe 4 that day. Tim decided to pull all the Christmas decorations down and bring them inside. The result: 2 little boys were up WAY later than normal and the tree and quite a few decorations were up a day early.

BLACK FRIDAY: Yep, I braved black Friday but not alone. Sarah, Fred and Bacon joined me in the festivities. We stopped by Joann's, Performance Bike, Sports Authority, Sears Appliance Outlet, K-Mart, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Bath and Body Works (perhaps my favorite store ever), lunch at the mall, Sears, Ornament Kiosk (to purchase our annual family ornament), Chicago Music Company, Home Depot and finally Office Max.

It wasn't too bad as Joann's wasn't horrendously busy and I used the express cut line. In and out in 1 hour. Actually with the exception of K-Mart, all the lines were quite quick. Bacon did a fabulous job. It helped he slept a great portion of the time and had 3 people to hold him.

While we were gone Tim, Pach and Pickle decked the house out in decorations. I was in trouble for not bringing home candy to put in the Advent Calendar pouches. Who knew I could get spankings for that?? We upgraded to new LED outside lights since it was cheaper than buying old replacement bulbs, especially since we couldn't find any to match the lights we had. The house isn't done but all the Christmas shopping is (ok, 1 present to go). The boys are loving it and enjoyed helping me put the candy I got today in the Advent Calendar pouches. I anticipate the candy in the bottom row will be gone by Tuesday of this week as both Pach and Pickle can reach those pouches.

Below are some pictures of Thanksgiving lunner (lunch/dinner) and Christmas tree decorating. This year Tim decided he was going to leave the ornaments where the boys put them on the tree. That means it's a little odd looking since some branches have 3 to 4 ornaments on them or there are clusters of ornaments but it's also fun to see how the boys decorate.