Happy Thanksgiving!

It may be a few days late, but I'm still stuffed from our Thanksgiving fare thanks to plenty of leftovers. I hope you all enjoyed yours as well! Thankfully we didn't have to make the turkey since my mother-in-law offered to bring one. So Thanksgiving morning was spent washing china, setting the table, and cooking up all the sides!

Here is a picture of part of our table:
We were waiting on a card table that the family was bringing to extend our table a bit. 9 people sure wouldn't fit at this table!

And here I am cooking up a storm!
Somehow we forgot to take pictures of everyone at the table. Too busy being hosts I suppose!

Of course, once Thanksgiving was over and all the food was packed up and put away that could only mean one thing: Christmas decorating! I'm very excited to be able to pull out all our stuff and go to town decorating for the first time in this house. It's always difficult trying to figure out where things should go, and oddly I feel like I don't have enough decorations!
Although we put the lights up earlier this month, I waited patiently to turn them on until Thanksgiving night.
The living room, complete with our new little "wood" stove.
Dining room.
Last but not least - the tree! And yes, there are even some presents under there already. :o) The only problem we've run into is that our tree is just a tad too tall for the family room, coming it at 7.5ft. The poor angel's wings are pressed right up to the ceiling. I'm not sure what we'll do about that, unless we get a new, shorter tree. I already have this fancy tree in mind for next year. A girl can dream!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving!

T-minus 2 days Till Turkey Day!

Our Thanksgiving feast is nearly upon us, and I for one am excited. This is the first time we're hosting at our house. I can't wait to break out the fancy china!

So far our menu is pretty traditional. We'll be having turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, maple dill carrots and some crescent rolls. Desert is being brought by Trav's grandma, and all I know is she's bringing pumpkin pie and custard pie. I am salivating just thinking about it!

I'm also looking forward to the annual Bear River Christmas Bazaar in which you can find goodies made by local "artisans". Travis plans on bringing some wreathes to sell as well. We're hoping to bring in some cold hard cash! We've also set up a sign outside to advertise our wares.
Hopefully we get some customers soon! Since we've had about 8 inches of snow today, I'm thinking that's got to get people in the Christmas spirit!

Winter Wonderland

We've had our first big "winter storm" of the year this weekend. Yay snow! There's something to be said for being able to hunker down at home and drink hot chocolate while it snows outside. We got an early Christmas present from my Mom & Dad that made it extra special. They gave us a faux wood stove that looks like a little fireplace and blows out warm and hot air. So we've been sitting by the "fireside" all weekend!

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:
Travis cut a path between our yard and the house on the left side of this picture. That's where Maya's best friend, Charlie lives. They play everyday, but unfortunately neither one of them are taller than 15 inches. They need a path!
So far we've had about 6 inches, and it's still snowing! Although supposedly the sun is supposed to come back out tomorrow. But I think it's official, we won't see our grass until April!

So maybe I'm a hypocrit

After all my preaching last week about waiting until after Thanksgiving to start with the Christmas festivities I have confession to make: we put up our outside Christmas lights. But hold on a minute! I can explain!

I live in the land of snow and ice. The Northern Tundra. We might as well be Canada right? I didn't want my husband on our second story roof in December when we will most likely have snow and/or ice. We have crappy insurance and I sure don't want to test it out. So yes, he got up there and put the lights up. He also strung some up on the garage and on our front porch. We have some lawn figures, but we're waiting to put those out - I know you can only handle so much. And the neighbors are doing it too.

Speaking of snow, we surprisingly have had none. Zip. Zero. A small town to our north had a little bit, but we haven't seen a single flake. That's fine for now, but we better have some by Thanksgiving. What are the holidays without a little festive snow? We've had an unusual "warm" streak with highs in the upper 50's. Cold by my mother's standards, but not by a Minnesotan!

Halloween is over - bring on Christmas?!

It sure feels like now that Halloween is over, everyone is ramped up for Christmas. Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE Christmas. There are no if's, and's, or but's about it - Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. I come by it naturally; my mother is equally as crazy about the holiday. And I go all out. Christmas tree, decorations, dishes, blankets, carols all month long, you name it. But I'm just not ready!

Whatever happened to Thanksgiving? I mean, sure, we all get happy about the day off and the good food. But it feels like a speed bump along the way to the "big day". I think we all need to just slow down a bit and chill out. Let's get excited about turkey day!

One reason I'm particularly excited about Thanksgiving this year is that I get two days off for the holiday. My office is closed on "Black Friday", meaning that it may be possible for Travis and I to score some good deals! We haven't shopped on Black Friday for a few years, but cleaned up on gifts for our family and some things for ourselves. Gotta love a sale! The best part about where we live is that in a small town you don't get swarms of people. Sure, there are crowds, but nothing compared to a big city!

For the record - Halloween was a bit of a bust around here. I bought a lot of candy, planning on lots of Trick-or-Treaters since we have quite a few kids in our neighborhood. We only got about 10-15 kids, so we have tons of candy left over! (Although that's really ok in my book.)

So bring on Thanksgiving!