Thanksgiving 2009

Our Beautiful House

"For real, Mom?" ~Abby

The girls were big helpers this year!!

The girls helping Mimi Cinda crack the hard boiled eggs

What a beautiful bird!!

YUMMY!!!

The girls didn't wait to dig into all the yummy food!!

Papa carving the turkey

Braxton's cheesy grin

Rory looking at the tree

The girls enjoying the Christmas tree

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. The girls and I really enjoyed having Michael home for five days straight. The girls didn't want him to go back to work. Rory even begged him saying " Daddy, no go work" the night before he had to go back. Michael was just about ready to melt. We spent the day before Thanksgiving at my Grandmother's house cooking. I got the honor of preparing a good portion of the dinner myself this year, so I made all of the deserts and other preparations the day before. On Thanksgiving morning, we all got up early to watch the parade together. The girls were mesmerized by the huge balloons! It was so neat to watch them get so excited!! Michael and I agreed that we would like to take them to an actual Macy's Day parade some day (but not soon). After the parade, we all jumped in and started cooking. My Dad and Michael prepared our turkey this year. They decided it would be fun to fry the turkey. It turned out beautiful and soooo yummy (and there was only one minor grass fire). The girls even got to help prepare the salad and deviled eggs. They were so excited to help!! Mimi Cinda let them sit on the table while she was preparing the eggs and she would hand them an egg to throw to crack it open. There were eggs flying against the wall, table, Mimi Cinda and each of the girls, but they had a blast helping crack the hard boiled eggs open. After our wonderful lunch, we spent the afternoon playing games, chasing kiddos and just having a good time.

On Friday, I decided to brave the crowds at the Black Friday sales. I always say that I'm not going shopping on that day and I always end up in the rush of things. This year, I came away with some interesting stories. At Wal-Mart, I had a woman hit me with her shopping cart 5 times in an attempt to get me to move out of her way. I would have moved if I could, but I was blocked. So, after a short discussion, she decided that hitting me again would be a bad plan. At Toys 'R' Us, there was an employee that continually yelled in a shrill voice at invisible people. After standing in line for 2 1/2 hours, I was ready to get away from her craziness!! Then at Sears, my dad was sitting in his van reading the flier and this women (at 4 a.m.) came up to his window wearing dark sunglasses and just stared at him. She stood there for a good 5 minutes before Dad rolled down the window and she wanted his flier. It was soooo funny!! Dad was really creeped out.

Last weekend, Michael and I decided it was time to decorate for Christmas. Michael got out and put up lights on our house. We really wanted the girls to be able to see all the pretty lights. We also put up a blow-up reindeer in the front yard. The girls are fascinated with all the decorations!! After the outside lights were hung, we put up our Christmas tree. The girls went crazy over the tree!! Michael and I bought each of the girls a special ornament to hang on the tree. Rory got a Mommy bear reading to a baby bear. Abby got a Tinkerbell ornament (my family calls her "Tink"). They love to look at their ornaments each day when they get up in the morning. We sing Christmas carols with the girls. We are all starting to enjoy the Christmas season. This year is so much fun because the girls are really old enough to enjoy everything!! Michael and I have enjoyed sharing everything with the girls and watching the wonder that the Christmas traditions have brought for the girls!!