The holiday season is upon us. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend full of fun, food, and decorating. Our Thanksgiving holiday started on Wednesday as I stayed home with the kids. We made fresh pumpkin pie and homemade cranberry sauce! Laura even helped me roll out the pie crust. I’m starting her early because no child of mine will EVER use store-bought pie crust.

Thanksgiving Day was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect (though maybe a little too warm). It was just the four of us because my Mom and Dad couldn’t make it down this year. Andy and I spent the morning preparing the turkey and all the trimmings! We spent part of the day just relaxing, spending time together, and playing with the kids. When it came time to finally eat that wonderful meal, we got out the china and crystal. We explained to the kids that the plates we were using were “special” and that we had gotten them for our wedding. They were so careful throughout the meal, making sure to use both hands when drinking from the glasses that we let them use. We had a great meal and really just enjoyed every part of the day. I needed a wonderful day like that. I’ve been struggling a lot with my job situation and it was really nice to have that day remind me of what I have in my life and what is really important.

The day after Thanksgiving was decorating day! The kids were so excited and couldn’t wait to help. They got in the crawlspace with me and helped Andy and I get out all the decorations. I say this every year, but when did I get so many decorations??? I spent the day decorating the inside of the house (with some help from Laura and John) and Andy spent the afternoon decorating the outside of the house. Laura even got up on the garage roof with Daddy to help. By the end of the day Friday, the only thing left to put up was our main Christmas tree that sits in the family room. I was exhausted so we decided to save that for Saturday...

It’s a good thing we made that decision because the tree took nearly five hours to put up. OK, so maybe I’m anal about making sure the entire tree is lighted from the inside-out. I wrap each branch as we put it on the tree. Why don’t we have a pre-lit tree you ask? We used to have one and never again. We eventually ran out of lights for it and one of the strands on it had more than one bulb out, so an entire section of the tree was out. In the trash it went, never to return. Enough side talk...

Putting up the tree was both exciting *and* a challenge because of Laura and John. They both wanted to help so badly and couldn’t wait to get the ornaments on. This resulted in them being underfoot a lot, which obviously slows down the process. It was all good though because when it came time to put the ornaments on, they were ready to go! Every year, we buy the kids a new ornament for the tree. They get to pick the ornaments out. Someday, these ornaments will be theirs to put on their own Christmas Trees. Laura was very excited when she saw my baby ornament and an ornament that was given to me by my third grade teacher, Mrs. Stambaugh. She was also quite interested in the reindeer ornaments that my grandmother made. This year, we bought their ornaments from a stand in the mall. Laura picked out a Unicorn and John picked out a train. Despite the challenges with the kids wanting to touch everything and not being as careful as we would have liked, I wouldn’t change a minute of today.  These memories are priceless.

On Sunday, Andy took Laura to the Mizzou vs. Binghamton basketball game, while I did laundry and cleaned the house. John got in a good afternoon nap, which he desperately needed. We had a great dinner and spent the evening relaxing. It was hard to believe the five days of vacation (four days for Andy) went by so fast. I’m already looking forward to next year!