Our Five Ring Circus: Tis' The Season

Monday, November 28, 2016

Tis' The Season

It's our last day of Thanksgiving Break and I'm just not ready for it to come to an end. My only consolation is the fact that it's the start of the holiday season and I love all things Christmas!


Family Photos

Thanksgiving came and went and I am more than ready to focus on Christmas now! Over the past few years, Thanksgiving has been lackluster. Don't get me wrong...I am incredibly thankful! It's just that Thanksgiving has changed so much over the years for my family. What used to be a huge family holiday has turned into all of my siblings going their own direction, and simply put, I miss how it used to be. It just fells "off" every year now.

This Thanksgiving, my little family woke up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade together. After it ended we had to rush (literally rush) to get ready and out the door on time for an early Thanksgiving Dinner at Grant's grandma's house. As soon as we arrived, with just 3 minutes to spare, we were greeted by Grant's Grandma's new pets. It was definitely appropriate for Thanksgiving Day!


Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Turkey

Dinner was really good but I spent most of my time getting food for Lily and Liam and picking up the food that Liam decided he didn't want. He's very three these days! As always, I was the last one at the table, and my food was cold by the time I ate. Some day very soon I'll be eating a hot meal and wishing it all back so I do try to be thankful for all of these moments, because it means my kids are young and living at home with us. Thinking about the alternative makes me sad!

Thanksgiving Dinner
Thankgiving

After dinner and a visit, we drove closer to home to visit Grant's dad's side of the family. 


Family
The Lucky Few
The Lucky Few 
The Lucky Few

After our visit, Grant headed home to watch the Steeler's game with his brother and Dylan and the rest of us drove to my sister's house to visit with her and my parents. My dad is pretty much Liam's favorite person, so he spent two hours in his arms and I was able to relax for the first time all day instead of constantly chasing after the toddler tornado!!!


The Lucky Few
Family

Black Friday was a big day for me! It was a day I had been counting down to for the past few months. No, I did NOT go out shopping. Instead, we all had a pajama day and curled up on the couch to watch Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. I laughed and cried my way through the entire 6+ hours and it was pretty much the best Black Friday EVER! 


Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

That evening, Grant's friend stopped by after work and we ended up playing cards for a few hours before I retreated to bed for an NCIS marathon. It was the ultimate lazy day and was much needed after months of constant chaos.  Of course, I couldn't possibly stay home all day without having to leave to do something. It turned out that I forgot to return our library books so I took a late night drive in my pajamas to return them before they were overdue. No kids and Christmas music along the way meant that I got to enjoy 10 peaceful, kid-free minutes, so it wasn't too much of a nuisance!

On Saturday afternoon, we discovered that the town parade/light up night was happening. It's always the first weekend of December, so I had no idea until the last minute. We rushed out the door and made it just in time for the 5 minute parade, then waited four times as long so Lily and Liam could sit on Santa's lap! 


 Christmas Parade
Santa Claus
Pictures with Santa
Pictures with Santa
Pictures with Santa

After the parade, we ran errands and went shopping, then rushed home to pick up Dylan and Grant so we could go to a combined birthday party for our dear friends. Andrew was turning 17 the next day, Lily turned 6 in July and Violet turned 3 in October. They conveniently shared one party!  


Birthdays

We had such a fun evening with some of our closest friends and didn't get home until 2 AM. Needless to say, everyone slept in yesterday!

Sunday was spent at home. We rearranged our living room so we could put up our Christmas Tree. Our original plan was to decorate the tree, but as soon as we set it up, we decided we wanted to buy a new one. So our decorating the Christmas Tree tradition got pushed back until later tonight. Instead, we made pizza and had a Christmas Family Movie Night! It wasn't a terrible alternative!


The Lucky Few
Nothing Down About It

My kids are off school today so we will enjoy one last day of freedom before returning to the daily grind. Shopping for a new tree and groceries and putting away laundry is on the agenda, along with decorating our tree.  Let the Christmas fun begin!


Thanksgiving

How was your Thanksgiving? What are you most looking forward to this Christmas season? 

Let's Be Friends!

12 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great holiday! I love that you have so much family close-by. That makes the holidays all the more fun. I have watched the first 3 episodesof Gilmore Girls and if it hadn't already been pretty late last night I would have started the last episode. Tonight is the night!!

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    1. It's definitely nice to have everybody nearby!
      I hope you were able to finish. I want to watch it again!

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  2. So lucky that y'all have one more day to enjoy. I was just thinking about how much I was dreading today, but the holiday season being here does make it better. Looks like you had pretty much the perfect weekend. Have fun today!

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    1. It was a nice way to ease back into reality. I'm not ready to face morning, though!

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  3. So nice you have another day today! Brayden is actually home too but it's because he's sick :( I hear ya on eating cold food but you're so right, the alternative makes me so sad so bring on the cold food for as long as possible :) I haven't watched any of the new GG, I'm almost finished with season 7 then I can begin!! It needs to happen soon because I'm sad I'm missing out on watching Christmas movies right now! Enjoy your fun filled day!

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    1. I hope Brayden is feeling better! XOXO
      If you liked what you have seen so far you will like the revival! So good!

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  4. Looks like a great time with family and friends! I'm about to start watching Gilmore Girls now, since I could not do it while traveling this holiday weekend!

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  5. Those turkeys!! They're HUGE!!
    I'm totally with you, I spent so much of Thanksgiving dinner running back and forth from the kids table to the food getting stuff for the kids. Some day a hot meal will be had. Someday. :)

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    1. They were massive! I had to laugh because all the kids were running away from them and Liam just walked right up and petted one. He's fearless!

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  6. I know I wasn't ready for it to end. Boo! Looks like you guys had a great Thanksgiving break.

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