A Thanksgiving Recap
How was your Thanksgiving? Did you go back for thirds at dinner? Watch the parade? Play games and hang out by the fireplace? I hope you got to enjoy the holiday to the fullest. Meanwhile, it’s back to the grind, huh? We had a great Thanksgiving break- complete with a layer of beautiful, white snow! On Wednesday, we headed down to Delaware to Mitch’s moms’ house to start the festivities.
We played lots of games that night (the favorite was this Disney “search and find” one), had some dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s, and geared up for the big day! The next morning, we tuned in right in time for the start of the Philly AND Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades (one of my favorite parts of the day) and spent the morning eating breakfast and switching back and forth between channels. After a wonderful meal, all the visiting family went home and we experienced our first bit of Christmas magic for the season… ice skating! Nope, we didn’t go to a rink or pond… we used the back deck! Earlier in the day, I noticed that it had snowed and then rained and froze on the deck and it brought back a special memory for me.
One year, our entire backyard froze into one big ice rink due to a mixture of snow, a layer of rain, and extremely cold temperatures. We were young and had never experienced anything like that (I still haven’t, to this day) and my mom bundled us up in our winter coats and pants, strapped us into our ice skates and said that we were going skating! We spent the entire day zooming all around the yard, down the hills, and through the trees- not a care in the world and certainly no worries of falling through the ice or running into the walls of a rink. Magical is the word that comes to mind. That was a really great day.
So when I saw the deck of ice, I just knew that Kylie would love an experience like that just as much as I did. During the day, I whispered to her that later we could go ice skating and we anxiously waited for the moment at the end of the evening that we could give it a whirl… literally. 🙂 We got our coats and gloves on (and helmets for an extra measure of safety), put on some boots and tentatively slid out onto the ice.
Sliding around, playing tag, and racing back and forth was pure joy and to top it all off- they have Christmas lights lining the railing of their deck making it a true winter wonderland!
What a fun way to end the night. I knew Kylie loved it because when I woke up the next morning, she had already dragged her dad back outside to get a bit more skating in before the ice started to melt. That made me smile. 🙂
Mitch and I packed up our things and hit the road for the second leg of our adventure- on to his Dad’s house! The day was filled with superheros (Mitch’s nephew is a tried and true Spiderman fan), relaxing, and a crackling fire (I don’t mean to be cliche- it was literally crackling… as most fires do). Perfection! I didn’t take any pictures unfortunately, but I attribute this to being so very content to just relax. Ah, vacation.
Mitch and his dad ventured out to Home Depot in search of spackling (which they found) and a new leaf blower (which they did not) and I braved the Black Friday mayhem in search of a Boscov’s, who was having a good deal on boots. I never did make it to Boscov’s due to lots of traffic and getting lost, but I managed to make a quick stop in Michael’s for a frame I’ve been looking for. So Mission Half Accomplished, I guess. We finished out the night with dinner, a Christmas movie, and more fireplace enjoyment. The next morning, we met my parents and great-aunt for breakfast to celebrate her 90th birthday… go Aunt Nancy!!!
Later in the evening, we traveled up to my cousins’ house to see some more of our family and celebrate some of the December birthdays. These parties are always a good time and usually filled with good food, Just Dance (told you so, circa this post), and lots of laughs. Let’s just say there was no shortage of any of those things- especially the laughs. Things tend to get crazy when us cousins get together and this year was no exception. For the first year ever, our family is attempting to pull off a Secret Santa gift exchange using an online program that draws names for each person and emails everyone who they’ve gotten (because we’re not all able to be present to draw names out of a hat). It’s exciting and we’re having fun with it… so much so that we cousins decided to create a trailer.
Yes, a movie trailer for this year’s Secret Santa. Just embrace the crazy, people- it’s easier that way. And tends to be more fun. 🙂 And for your viewing pleasure…
Yeah, we like to have a good time. Anyway, the next morning, Mitch, Mom, Dad, and I went to church, came home and had some lunch (soup and sandwiches…yum), and set out to get our Christmas trees!
We go to a place down the road that is owned and operated by a local family and is just so much fun. Think free hot chocolate, free beer, campfire, Christmas music, chop your own tree down fun.
After about an hour, we drove off with two trees (my parents got one too) and headed home for a Chinese food dinner and some more lounging in front of the fire (sensing a theme here?).
Later that night, Mitch and I headed home with very full stomachs (we did A LOT of eating over the course of the weekend!) and even fuller hearts after getting to spend so much quality time with our families. Once home, we unloaded the car and got to work setting the tree up- no decorations yet, we just wanted to get it in the tree stand and in some water. Decorating will commence tonight and you know I’ll keep you posted on how it all goes down. Here’s to a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful Christmas season to come!
See you later!
