we had a lovely thanksgiving last month. for the first time, on actual thanksgiving day, josh and i cooked at home for just us and the kids! it was really nice. my dad's side of the family usually does our thing on black friday, and mama, wesley, and maya were in brownsville visiting wesley's mom. sooo, that freed us up to have our own little family feast on thanksgiving day. we got a pre-roasted chicken, and made mashed potatoes and green bean cassarole from scratch. i used a mix for the stuffing, and bought a pumpkin pie. it was delish!



on friday we went to my dad's parents' house and had my grandmother's amazing lasagna, salad, apricot and pecan jello salad (a family tradition), along with some really yummy raspberry lambic my sister's boyfriend brought. we had a choice of pumpkin pie or homemade pumpkin cheesecake, courtesy of my stepmom and sister, for dessert. it was a nutritionally and emotionally nourishing couple of days. :)



this past weekend josh and i took the kids to santa's village. in years past, micah, especially, has not been much for going inside the little cottages. she gets anxious in crowds and feels shy. she also gets SUPER out of sorts when she's cold. last year i solved the cold problem by putting five layers on her, and she was as happy as a clam but didn't want to go in any of the houses. this year, she surprised me by being totally excited about all of it! first, we arrived in time to join in the countdown for them to turn on all the beautiful lights. the kids squealed with glee as the enormous tree over our heads lit up. then we got to see santa and mrs. claus arrive on the fire truck with the lights blazing, which the kids LOVED. we went into mrs. claus' bakery first, then a few more, ending with the petting zoo. the petting zoo made josh and i so sad. there were two ducklings huddling in a corner surrounded by shrieking kids, and a poor chicken running back and forth, back and forth, trying to get away from a group of toddlers. a big black and white goat climbed into my lap when i sat down next to him, and i could practically hear him begging me to get him outta there. the kids petted the goats and the rabbit, then our turn was up. i think we left after that.