Thanksgiving Weekend

We've had a low key Thanksgiving weekend.  After inviting a few people over and getting invited to a friends, we ended up just doing our own thing.  It was important to us that the boys get the idea of what Thanksgiving is about, so we tried to depart from our normal weekend/day off routine.  We started the morning with breakfast and loading up the boys in the stroller for a walk.  When we got back I got the turkey breast in the crockpot.  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Emmett really wanted to watch a movie, but we convinced him to watch the parade and he saw lots of characters that he recognized.  We also did some crafts, painting and making "thankful" leaves.  We did snack type stuff for lunch, a cheese ball, crackers, and veggies.  Then I made the mistake of putting Angry Birds on my phone.  Emmett has seen it a few places and I knew he'd have fun with it.  He got very into it and Jim helped him (and got a little addicted himself).  I tried to make all the traditional Thankgiving foods, but maybe they are just my favorites.  We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, and cranberries.  We lit candles and had Ezra sit at the table (not his highchair), and Emmett drank from a champagne flute.  It felt fancy (definitely a departure from our normal dinner) and the food was good!  Everyone found something they liked, the sweet potatoes were a big hit...I'm sure the marshmallows had something to do with that.  Oh, and I made my first pumpkin pie too.  I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but it turned out alright.    

 

 On Friday we didn't leave the house...no black Friday shopping for us.  We did a little shopping online, getting some of our Christmas shopping done, but I really didn't want the day to be about that.  Instead we listened to Christmas music and decorated the house for Christmas.  It was pretty good weather and Jim got the lawn mowed while I put up the wreath and garland and the boys spent some time outside.  I also worked a bunch on a felt mitten advent calendar for us.  I think I got the idea 2 years ago and bought the supplies last year.  This year I am finally doing it, and hoping to have it done by December 1st. 

 Saturday we went and got our Christmas tree.  We started the morning with cinnamon rolls and breakfast burritos.  Then we loaded up and went and got our permit.  We drove up into the mountains to our regular spot which was parked full.  We found a spot just a little further up the road.  There was hardly any snow which made crossing the creek a little more difficult.  We left the sled in the car and hiked through the trees looking for our perfect Christmas tree.  We chose our tree and Jim carried it back to the car.  No sledding this year :-(  We drank hot chocolate and had snacks on our way home. 

posing in front of our chosen tree

Pointing, with excitement, at the tree we found

We got the tree up and put lights on it.  We tried to get the boys to decorate it with us, but Ezra was a little too helpful, so we will do it tonight and save a few ornaments for the boys to do.  We watched Finding Nemo and had popcorn too.  It is pretty rare for us to decorate and get our tree this early, but it will be nice to enjoy it for so long, especially since we won't be at home for Christmas.