We did have Thanksgiving. We really did. It just came so quickly after Halloween and was quickly overtaken by the Christmas season. I just want to slow everything down. Take one day at a time. Savor each moment. Remember why we celebrate. Spend time in prayer. Go out into nature. Play with the dogs. Knit. Sit quietly and just be for a time.
I was lazy this year and used paper plates and plastic glasses. My excuse was that then we would have time to spend time with family, play games and not be in the kitchen all afternoon. We had ten to eat and way too much food. I am going to have to rethink my portions and how many leftovers I want to have. The dogs and chickens got some special treats after Thanksgiving. We really could not eat all the leftovers and it’s hard to freeze salads. I still cook for twenty or thirty and there are never that many around our table.
The boys modeled their turkey hat.
We played “Say Anything,” which is really a fun game for everyone.
Gobble. Gobble.
Then it was time to decorate for Christmas.
Out came the Christmas quilts and pillows.
“Light” the fire.
Set up the tree. Every year it is fun to find the ornaments we have put up year after year. I bought a couple of new ones this year, but most are decades old.
I love our tree. I don’t always enjoy putting it up and decorating it, but it is always worth it when it’s in all its glory.
Our town has a Festival of Lights every year. This year there was a Christmas village with vendors and games for children and a magician.
We took our two youngest grandboys.
First we took them to the indoor playground. It was packed with children. This is a climbing thing that all the kids seem to love. It looks scary to me, but the children were climbing on it like little monkeys. It’s a long way up there.
The magician performed and made a little girl this hat from balloons. He also pulled a scarf from my grandson’s sleeve. I asked him if he knew it was up there and he said, “No!”
Then we went outside and waited for the parade to start.
The Cheer Guild was giving away cups of hot chocolate. My grandsons enjoyed that.
Santa made an appearance.
Then the parade began.
A vintage Coca Cola truck all decked out in lights.
So many pretty, lighted floats.
And what do you know? Santa appeared again. The end of the parade. There were fireworks, but we were all hungry so we decided to drive out of town and get something to eat. It took so long to get out of the parking lot we got to see some of the fireworks.
It was a fun night. Only nineteen days until Christmas. I plan to enjoy and embrace every day. Bye.