Happy (U.S.) Thanksgiving & getting ready for Christmas

This past weekend was a lot of fun. The kids had Friday off for a teacher-prep day & parent teacher conferences. So we had their conferences in the morning (they are all doing GREAT), and then the kids played with some friends, PJ & Tessa delivered their papers, I ran to the store to get the few last things we needed for our big Thanksgiving dinner, and then Tessa & I made some gingerbread (we waited until Neil got home from his trip before baking the cookies & decorating them).

Neil got home Friday evening from his business trip out west, to Victoria. After he got home, Neil & I headed out to dinner for a date & did a little bit of Christmas shopping. We are keeping the presents kind of simple this year, since we decided to do a family trip for our big gift for our family. We are going on a cruise to the Bahamas--HOORAY!!! :) Sunshine, warm weather, & relaxation...that's MY kind of holiday celebration!

So, then on Saturday morning, we got up & I made pancakes for the kids, Neil took Tessa, Jonah, & Clay to their music lessons, while I went to the church for our Relief Society Christmas craft day. I usually don't do crafts, because I'm not crafty at all, and they usually end up in the garbage (because they don't look so good), but I decided to give it a try this year. Note to self...next year, just go to visit & don't do the crafts. Nope, I'm STILL not crafty! :)

After I got home from the craft day & the kids got home from their music lessons, we put the turkey in the roaster and did some other prep work for our Thanksgiving meal, put out a veggie tray & crackers with a cheese ball, baked & decorated our gingerbread cookies, and enjoyed some hot chocolate & wassail while listening to some Christmas music. We also decorated our Christmas tree, put out our Christmas decorations & nativity, and hung the stockings. It now looks like we are ready for Christmas. And we even got a little dusting of snow for the occasion. :)

We had a great day relaxing, playing, enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with everything, including both pumpkin & chocolate pies for dessert. YUM! :) It was a great day!