GREAT holiday

We had a very nice Thanksgiving! I had prepped most things Wednesday and Dave and I spent the day working on finishing getting the house ready and prepping a lot of things for our big feast! I got the turkey in the brine, made cranberry sauce, and a lot of other things I cannot really remember right now. Dave's Dad and Aleen got here about 6 pm Wednesday and we had chili and sandwiches for dinner. YUM. We then stayed up watching the Passion Play video. After that it was time to go to bed....well, not really but at 11 pm I could not stay awake. Not to mention I knew that I would be up early for Turkey Day.

I woke about 6 am, but was in bed until 7:45 or so. I knew I needed to get on up to get breakfast made and get going for my day. The breakfast casserole was very yummy and everyone loved it. While it cooked, I peeled and got the potatoes cooking. Dad mashed them while I got a shower. After that, Aileen started putting together a table runner for my dining room table. I have had extra fabric from when we recovered the dining room chairs and kept saying I was going to make a runner. Well...NO MORE. She got it made for me and it is beautiful. Now all I need is place mats and wall decor and the room will be done. Wonder how many more months, no, wait.....YEARS that will take me.

Dave and his Dad spent the whole morning and afternoon outside watching his turkey cook in the smoker, cleaning golf clubs, and enjoying the 73 degree temps! Our friends arrived around 2:30 and even though dinner was pretty much ready I decided we would appetizers outside. Everyone was out there anyways since it was so nice! Around 4 pm we sat down to eat and it was wonderful! Everything turned out so yummy and it was nice just to sit down and enjoy being together. The kids all ate at the kitchen table and the adults in the dining room. Naturally the kids finished quickly and came begging for dessert, but we didn't budge and enjoyed our dinner and talking time. Finally around 7 I think we caved in and brought the pies in.

It was another wonderful evening. I think I did about 3 rounds of dishes by hand and 2 loads in the dishwasher. I unloaded the last load tonight and now my kitchen is mostly back to normal. LOTS of leftovers, which is fine by me.

So, today we woke around 7:30 and Dave got up to get ready for his golf outing with his Dad. We had leftovers for breakfast and sent the men on their way. We got dressed and by 10:30 am were out the door to visit a few stores. We made it to Cosco, Hastings, Walmart, and Kohls. I wanted to go to the mall, but we just did not make it. We did stop at the Old Time store here in our town. I love it. We went in the Open air market and then into the store. I had forgotten that it was their holiday open house, so it was a lot neater. I found some perfect napkin rings shaped like old fashioned french horns, so those are for my dining room. 5 bucks for a set of 8, not too bad at all. It wasn't as warm today and cloudy most of the day. We had sprinkles late in the day. We went to one of our favorite BBQ restaurants for dinner, VERY good! Now we are all snuggled back in here at home in front of the tv watching the Incredibles. Dave is out and snoring loudly, and Libbi may be asleep too, but the rest of us are awake watching the movie. I think my in-laws will be leaving early in the morning. From there I am not sure what our plan is. Not that it matters, it has been nice to be with my family.

It might snow Sunday night.....I would love to see a little snow. Not a lot, but a little and enough to make it pretty. Not enough to miss school either as I do not want to have to make any days up in May.