My Favorite Part of Thanksgiving...

...was the day after. Let me explain, we spent most of our Thanksgiving week in Utah with Collin's family and we really did have a good time because we don't get together that often. Collin's sister, Katie, just moved in to a new house like on Tuesday of last week, two days before Turkey day, so we went to help her move and Collin installed a bunch of stuff. The kids had a blast and, of course, stayed up later than normal, in fact, we all stayed up later than normal, so by the time Thursday rolled around we were feeling spent. We had the Thanksgiving meal at Katie's new house with all of the rest of the family, and to be honest, the whole time we were there it felt like a mad dash to get everything ready for Thanksgiving day. Everyone was a little cranky, including myself. So, my favorite part of Thanksgiving was the day after. We came home on Thursday because Collin had to work Friday (retail...go figure). Friday morning the kids and I slept in and later that morning I took Kaylee to go see Enchanted at the movie theater while Bradley stayed at home with a babysitter and played with a friend (the babysitter's younger brother) and Spencer took a long afternoon nap. By the way, Enchanted is awesome, I highly recommend it for the whole family.

Later that evening the kids really wanted to put up the Christmas tree. I was hesitant at first because stringing the lights is a real pain in the gluteus maximus, but I gave in and we got out all the stuff and put up the Christmas tree while listening to some great Christmas music. I loved it!!! I started reminiscing about when I was a kid. Whenever we put up the Christmas tree at our house when I was a kid, we would listen to the Muppet's Christmas Album and the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer album. Now that I think of it, these were both actually records, you know, that have to be played on a record player (I can't believe how incredibly old that makes me feel). My mom was never the kind of mom that had to have a perfect Christmas tree, it was always about us kids. She would string the lights and then we would all put on the ornaments, every year each kid got a new ornament out of a series. I always got a rocking horse, Chris got trains, Nicole's were dollhouses, and I think Chelsea's were Barbie ornaments. I almost started crying when my kids were putting my rocking horses on our tree. I felt so grateful for my family, and I decided that I will never stress out about having a perfect Christmas tree, I want my kids to feel like all the Christmas traditions are about so much more than appearances, because really they are. So my thankful moment this year actually came after Thanksgiving, as great as it is to spend time with our extended family, I am feeling especially fond of the quieter moments at home making great memories with my little family.