Thanksgiving 2013

For Thanksgiving this year we were a little bit nontraditional, a little bit store bought, and a little bit Pilgrim-and-Indian.  It turned out to be the perfect mixture for a low-stress holiday here at home.  We missed our greater families, but loved being able to cement our own family traditions that our kids will be carrying with them to their families someday.  Plus, small and intimate is a dream come true for this hermit mama.  :)

So, let's back up a bit to about a week before Thanksgiving when I finally got my act together and planned some Thanksgiving crafts for the kids to do during Oskar's nap.  We made Indian teepees and fingerprint Turkeys.  The boys played in the rain a bit, too, as they collected little sticks from the front yard for the tops of our teepees.  It was a perfect day for arts and crafts.

TEEPEES and TURKEYS

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we pulled together our 2013 Thankful Tree.  That's always a really fun family time for us.  The kids love filling out their leaves of gratitude and it was especially entertaining to hear them call out each item they were thankful for as they jotted it down and threw it in the growing pile.  Karsten was super funny, scribbling his gratitude on a ton of leaves while shouting out, "I'm thank thee for CARS!" or "I'm thank thee for TRAMPOLINES!"

2013 THANKFUL TREE!

Since we didn't have any more evening soccer practices, we hit up the park a couple time in the days before Thanksgiving.  It was SOOOOO liberating to have that freedom from the great fall soccer regime.  And it was so nice to catch two GORGEOUS sunsets and be able to take some awesome silhouettes of the boys.

PARK DAYS!

The night before Thanksgiving we went to a really fun movie (Frozen) and then went shopping for a Christmas tree.  Bad weather was forecast for the Friday after Thanksgiving and we wanted to be decorating our tree that day rather than sitting around watching the rain and wishing we had a tree.  We picked out our tree at the tree lot and I double checked the weather only to find that the rain was no longer forecast.  Go figure.  But we were happy to have our tree anyway.  And guess what?  True to San Diego weather's unpredictability, the rain actually did come, and we were happily tucked away in our front room, listening to Christmas music and arranging nativities all over the place.  Neener neener.

THE NIGHT BEFORE

And then it came time for Thanksgiving day and our big, non-traditional, somewhat-store-bought feast. Thanksgiving day was really fun and, best of all, do-able.  Dan helped out a ton, taking total charge of the main course (roast beast) and whisking the kids away for some park time later in the day when they were getting all wound up.  I attempted to liven up the party with some Thanksgiving decor this year and loved the way it wrapped us all up, cozy-like, in the spirit of Thanksgiving.  When we sat down to eat, the boys had coloring pages and activity pages and we all discussed why the first Thanksgiving took place and what things the Pilgrims and Indians had to be grateful for and how we can show our gratitude for the things we have and share our blessings with others.  The food was delicious (Dan's roast?  TO DIE FOR!  Sooooo succulent!), the company was the best, and the conversation was titillating.  It was a perfect Thanksgiving and looking around that table reminded me of how grateful I am to keep my greatest blessings so close to me, day in and day out, as we shape each other into the people Heavenly Father intended us to be.

P.S. Why the roast?  Because this prego mama CANNOT do fowl right now.  No way, no how, no fowl.  Bleh.

THANKSGIVING DAY

And then, the day after Thanksgiving, we quickly hid away all the Thanksgiving decorations and pulled out the Christmas stuff.  It was awesome.  And Oskar had a field day with the tree, which I didn't mind, since I wasn't the one who had decorated it (decorated BY kids, FOR kids - that's my new Christmas motto).  :D  I was dead on my feet by Friday night after those two long days of activity and perpetual motion.

THE DAY AFTER

Kudos to Dan for stringing our outside lights the Saturday before Thanksgiving!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!!