Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I love Christmas, but Thanksgiving is most definitely my most favorite holiday. I love that it is a day to reflect on all we have to be thankful for, see all of our family in one day, tons of yummy food, and it's the start of the holiday season. I think it is so important over the next few years for Nicholas to understand the meaning behind Thanksgiving and Christmas. We made sure to let him know several times Thursday that it was about family, being thankful, and not parades and shopping (even though we did enjoy both). We had a lot to be thankful for this year as The Lord has blessed us immeasurably over the past year.
We started our day with the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade while mommy and daddy cooked lunch. Nicholas watched last year, but I think he really enjoyed it this year. He laid on our bed and watched for 2 hours. (please ignore his "cheese" face) :-)
I die over the cuteness of his outfit. I had trouble getting a good picture, but this one is just Nicholas being Nicholas! :-)
For lunch I put another shirt over his turkey shirt so he wouldn't ruin it before our 2nd stop. I'm glad I did! He did get cranberries and sweet potatoes all over his pants, so we did had a pants change before round 2. Haha!
We had the Ledford family over for lunch. Michael got up at 5:30 and started smoking our turkey and a pork loin. I made dressing, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn, cranberry sauce, and green beans. It was so good that I barely could eat anything at our next stop.
I used my Nana's dishes and a few of her accessories along with our everyday glasses and my fine silver. I think it all looked good on my table and buffet.
It hasn't been Thanksgiving over the past 6-7 years since this glass turkey got retired. I brought him out of retirement this year and I hope N loves him as much as I have over the years. :-)
After we got the house cleaned up, the boys took quick naps and then off to Gigi and Pawpaw's house we went for dinner with my family. By that point we were full and exhausted, so I didn't really take any pictures, which I regret. My Nana and Nicholas had a great time together as usual and he loves her so much. I just can't tell you how much this sweet boy has brightened all of our lives over the last 2 years. This is an example of how our evening went with a certain tired toddler and why there aren't any pictures... Haha!
Here he is after his bath and insisting that he "walk Beez" (walk Beasley). Poor Beasley kept looking at us like please help me!
After we stuffed ourselves some more, we got home and the boys went to bed while Gigi and I took the new mommy mobile for a little mini trip. We went down to the outlet mall about 30 miles away. I am SO glad we did that this year rather than fight Black Friday at the mall, with a cranky toddler. We got there at 9:30 and shopped until 1:55. I got some awesome deals on my holiday soaps at Bath and Body, Ralph Lauren for Michael, some Gap for us, Gymboree for N, Coach for a couple of gifts, and the deal of the night was probably the cashmere Ann Taylor sweater for $39!!! I got everyone on my list knocked out except for a few photo gifts I've got to order. My mom is usually struggling at this point, but got about half of her list knocked out too! It was sooooo worth it and has probably become a new tradition. I have a ton more cargo room in the new car and it was FULL when we left! That was a sign that we did well! :-)
That sums up our crazy Thanksgiving. It was definitely a wonderful day and we have so much to be thankful for. God has been so good to us this year!
