Kicking off the holidays....

After a weekend of post-Thanksgiving camping we were back home and ready to rid the house of pumpkins and usher in all the Christmas decor! It's always a fun few days decking the halls, picking out our tree, breaking out the Christmas jammies and firing up those mistletoe candles!

Once the house was decorated and the Christmas Spode was out the kids were welcomed, on December 1st, by their good buddy Al - their personal "Elf on the Shelf." He arrived with chocolate filled advent calendars and I was happy to see that Adam was still mystified and oh boy was Harper really into all the Christmas magic this year as well!

A good thing too since our second big activity on December 1 was going to visit Santa at Kathleen's office party - one of our favorite traditions! We weren't quite sure how Harper was going to react seeing as he had already begun expressing some concern about Santa - the whole "sneaking into the house" concept was a bit disconcerting to him. Alas, upon seeing Santa arrive he busted under the velvet rope and gave Santa a huge hug around his legs! It happened so fast I couldn't get a picture - but I'll never forget it. The boys both proceeded to enjoy their visits with Santa in his sleigh telling him all the things they were wishing for.

These are the moments that make the holiday season so awesome - and it was only just beginning!

Gobble Gobble Gang...

Thanksgiving was full of all kinds of family time, cooking up delicious meals, watching classic holiday movies, counting down to the parade, shooting hoops, football watching, and of course a whole lot of eating! What more could you ask for? 

The festivities kicked off, as they always do, with Thanksgiving lunch and the book fair at Adam's school. 

Then two nights before Thanksgiving with Adam, Olivia and Harper camping at Bull Run with Andy - the Greeley siblings were here helping Mark whip up his famous pumpkin cheesecake followed by my very first viewing of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!" How have I gone this long in life without seeing that movie!? Well, it will now be a Thanksgiving tradition. 

The night before Thanksgiving everyone came over and we feasted on traditional spaghetti and meatballs as Andy prepped the sous vide for his turkey - yes, once again we had dueling turkeys! Grandma of course came over with her traditional Thanksgiving gifts. Ornaments, holiday candles, festive hats and Christmas jammies for the kids were gifted. 

Mark, Kathleen, and Olivia spent the night and then Grandma and Grandpa arrived in time for a champagne brunch with egg casserole and pumpkin french toast casserole to kicked things off. Of course the parade was the star of the morning - with Harper being very into it this year and Adam, well, being very much "over it" but he played along - sigh. 

I spent much of the day in the kitchen - where I wanted to be - and had lots of help from the kids who tore the the bread, as per usual, for the stuffing and who also helped with the dutch apple pie. 

When we had some down time we went for walks and played basketball - it was a beautiful and sunny day so we had to take advantage. Plus - dutch apple pie and stuffing...

Everything turned out so well with Andy's sous vide turkey being super juicy and my oven roasted turkey crisp and golden brown - both winners! 

Olivia set a beautiful table with fun "what am I thankful for" decorative leaves that Grandma had us all fill out and then go around the table reading. A new tradition to be sure.

It was a wonderful few days and I think we packed in all the festive Thanksgiving fun (and food!) we could! 

Gobble gobble!