This season is always wild- it starts with the excitement of thanksgiving, and then Rosies birthday is right on the heels of the holiday.

This year we did some quick Thai food on Wednesday to get ready for the busy days ahead. As tay would say, “Momma is tired, and dont wanna mess around with cooking.” So, she didnt. I even went the extra mile and took the kiddos to the park to get some wiggles out at the end of the day, and that was fun.

Thanksgiving

What do you do on thanksgiving morning? Do you have any traditions? Around our house, it is all about one thing: The Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. We love to celebrate the commercialism of it.

Actually, we just like recording it, and then watching in various parts and skipping the commercials- and being as absolutely lazy as possible. We deserve it, right? So, I made a (small) breakfast. When the kids said they are still hungry, a gentle reply of “Good, it builds character” was all they got from me.

They also created masterpieces on the scale of Van Gogh and solved complicated puzzles:

Just because we are lazy, doesnt mean things werent busy. Games played, gymnastics, and whatever the girls did that almost seemed like hitting each other, but no one really cried so it was fine:

I dont know what this dance move is (maybe a back bend?) but it gives me the heebie jeebies every time I see it: this move is what the bad guys do in scary movies, almost inhuman like flexibility:

Ok ok, by this time (11:30), we have been as lazy as possible. The house is kindof a mess. Stacey Tester (Taylors longtime friend, and my 11th grade date to homecoming dance) stayed the night with us the night before, and was somewhat scarce that morning- I didnt get any great pics of her I now realize.

But, it was time to start getting ready to go to thanksgiving at Taylor’s parent’s house, 15 minutes away, and the farthest drive we make in a given week.

The day was great- Deborah (or “Zippy” or “Taylors mom”) does a great job decorating.

The kids- cousins from Charlotte- had a great time. Bourbon was great as always- don’t mind if I do 🙂

There weren’t a ton of pics, so you just have to take my word for it: it was fun. The food was great. Our bellies were full. Then everyone crashed when we got home, and Rosie and I enjoyed watching Home Alone 2, Lost in New York. Rosie thought that movie was selected at random, but I assure it was not:

The Rest of the Weekend

What else happened that weekend?

Our friend Abbey Remein stayed the night Friday night- she is an awesome longtime friend of ours from Virginia. We woke up, and repeated much of the same as the day before, without the Parade to watch. Just as lazy as possible, and I used the opportunity to move some of the furniture in the garage to accomodate more people for Rosie’s birthday party in 10 days. Mercy was still in the Mercy-verse. If you are wondering what that means, this explains it:

Taylor did some Christmas shopping (black Friday, duh!), and I ran to a few stores to investigate my two big items for Rosie this year (I can’t tell, its a secret), and our friend Abbey showed up that evening. At this point, we were sick of Thai leftovers, so we had to break for some Greek food at our favorite spot, Mythos. Once again, time for more pajamas, doing as little as possible, which means: puzzle time!

Let’s talk about trees. No, not those kinds of trees- that is still illegal in North Carolina. I am talking about Christmas trees- this is a family blog after all.
We usually get our tree from the farmers market, but for the past few years, we have been getting our trees from Freedom House Farms- the place that my friend Houston runs to help families get back on their feet.

This is the second year they have been selling trees, and they got it all decorated to look great for the season:

The tree looked great on the lot, and after a bit of work, a few pictures, and some help from the Freedom House Crew, we got on our way. Again, momma doesnt wanna cook yet, so we stopped to get some lunch on the way back.

Did I say home? Just kidding. There was more to do: trader joes for a wreath for our Advent Candles, and some eggnog- because this was a time to be merry, and as luck we have it, we ran into someone special while we were there:

Rosie had an idea for our house which followed our rhythm: adding one or two decorations every year. Previously we have added 1-2 strands of lights (only white lights at our house), but now we are expanding to do a bit more, and Rosie wanted to make our light posts into candy-cane stripes. So, we brainstormed how to do that, and I am proud of her. We worked together, and it turned out….alright. Not amazing, but it was good!

We have a special way we do the tree, and if anyone doesnt do it in the same manner, they are doing it wrong:

• Bring the tree in, and put it on the stand (dont put the stand on before going into the house)
• Make it straight.
• Cut the netting off
• Add the lights.
• Add the garlen (Is that how its spelled? The red beads to decorate?)

After that is done, we add the decorations. Each year I take a video, and here is about 17 minutes compressed down to 45 seconds:

Taylor always says she isnt creative- but I think her decorating really shines as something “creative”.

Ok, Thanksgiving is over. Remember how I said there is one more thing? Thats right- Rosies birthday always jumps up on us, and this year we surprised her in a pretty fun way for her 10th birthday.

We made (Ok, TAYLOR made, she gets all the credit on this) a scavenger hunt for Rosie to learn that she is going on a quick trip to New York City to celebrate her special milestone. Most of the scavenger hunt would be pretty boring to watch (it is fun for me!), but here is Rosie reading the last clue in the scavenger hunt and putting it all together:

AS IF THAT WASNT ENOUGH, Rosie is the only girl I know lucky enough to have an unexpected snow day on her birthday, school closed! So, we had an impromptu trip to get a very, very uncaffeineted drink at a coffee shop, where I used the opportunity to tell her her birth story. Not the crazy details, just how we had a hard time getting pregnant with her, so we prayed a lot. It was a special time- I had a vision and knew we would get pregnant 10 months before, and it happened. God is good.

So, stay tuned- I cant wait to share more about our trip to NYC!