Thanksgiving

Bill and Brenda came up this year to celebrate Thanksgiving with us!  This year the tree lighting was the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and it was pretty cold!

We had our big meal a few days early, so that they could make it back down to Texas for another meal with John's family.  Sadly, their new iteration of Gretchen and Savage did not take well to our house, so Bill and Brenda ended up in a motel for the time they were up here.  We still got to see them lots, just not at night.

We added another round of handprints to our tablecloth!  

I can't believe this is only the fourth year of the tablecloth, it feels like we've been doing it forever!!  It makes me so incredibly happy to see!

Grace made name tags so that everyone would know where to sit! = )

While they were here, we also did our Christmas exchange!

While getting out the Thanksgiving things, we found the wooden turkey maker!  I half thought I'd gotten rid of it, so it was a pleasant surprise to find it! = )  And that's one of the pumpkins from our garden!

We also unearthed the miniature accordion. Grace and Emily spent the longest with it, practicing until they learned the tune to "Happy Birthday!"  It's kind of a weird instrument, in that pulling out and pushing in while holding the same button are two different notes!   

I was stained by the paint from the table cloth.  My children would not accept the tall tale that I was pecked by the turkey that we had for thanksgiving!  = 0  lol.

By having our big meal before Thanksgiving, it allowed us to spend the entire day of actual Thanksgiving decorating for Christmas, which was lovely!

It was cold, but a lovely time, and we felt well rested heading into the Christmas season!

later days

edit: back dated for continuity 12-24-23