So, Thanksgiving, huh? What a weekend! It was wonderful, my brother and his family came over for the day (instead of the several days earlier anticipated) and it was great fun. I got most of the cooking out of the way the night the night before, so it was truly a nice, relaxing day. The food all turned out great, the kids were all behaved (with the the exception of Ethan, who kept wiggling and kicking and showing the food in his mouth to everyone, luckily the 3 little ones were at the “kid table”) and then naps, monopoly, Wii, pumpkin pie and chocolate cake ended the day. It’s so nice having some of my family near by! This was a first for me!

The rest of the weekend was nice too, I had visions of getting the tree and decorating it Friday, but the actuality of it was less appealing than the idea of it. I did take Jocelyn and get a tree on Sunday however (let her pick it it, because my track record isn’t that great) and so it is up, but undecorated.

Lots of craftiness ensued, the kids and I painted butterflies, hearts, and christmas trees — all things you cut out on a fold, paint, and then fold again for symmetrical paint blobbiness (and then when you’re done with the paint, that’s when the glitter is sprinkled) – it was great fun. My kitchen floor is all glittery now 🙂

We also did some gumdrop sticking, and I made some Martha Stewart paper ornaments, and a couple of hot pads. I need to take pictures of everything to show off.

My gumdrop wreath:

Ethan’s gumdrop tree:

Jocelyn’s gumdrop tree:

Grumbling (from Ethan mostly) came along with Monday morning, but the promise of taking detours on the way home to see people’s christmas lights helped to assuage that.

There was also lots of shopping done, and despite my wish to make it low key and do lots of hand made things, there are closets stocked with presents already. On the plus side, I think we may be done! Waiting for a few things to be delivered, and need to go over all the lists, but largely, I think the shopping is pretty much done.

It was a lovely holiday.