Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was very underplayed.  The kids had the Friday before Thanksgiving and the whole week of Thanksgiving off of school (making a 10 day break).  We enjoyed staying up late playing Rock Band and watching movies, and sleeping in late and being lazy.  But as far as the actual holiday went, it was not a real big deal here this year.  We didn't have any family coming, so we didn't do a huge dinner.  We let each of the kids pick a favorite food, and did a non-traditional feast.  We had lots of rolls, jello with cool whip on top, ham, chicken, pies and cake.  But most of our time and efforts were spent on a week-long building project.

In college, right after Scott and I were married, we bought this entertainment center.  When we bought it, I loved it.  Over the years, I've come to love it a lot less.   It's just so big and bulky.  And, it made us be stuck with our 12 year old square TV, because new TVs are rectangle instead of square.  The crowning blow to it was a little 4 year old and a crayon, that I could not get to wash off.  I decided it was finally time for it to go. (This picture was taken after I had emptied most everything off it, in preparation for moving it out.)

After pricing new entertainment centers/TV stands, I determined that if we didn't want to pay an enormous amount, that we would have to build one. So we did. I love how it turned out.  I want to get baskets to put toys in and fill the cubbys, but that will have to wait a bit.

Once the TV shelf was finished, we were able to start our Christmas preparations. We put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, only to find that half the lights on it didn't work. We spent days getting all the light bulbs replaced, and finally were able to decorate it. All the kids were really excited to get into the Christmas mood.

Everyday Nate asks me, "Is tonight Christmas?" When I say "no", he then insists, "Only 2 more days, right?". Scott and I went shopping all day on Black Friday and got all our Christmas shopping done. So, all the presents are wrapped under the tree, and the suspense of what is in each of them is driving all the kids crazy. I love this time of year.