Thanksgiving Weekend 2013

It was such a nice 5-day weekend. The thought of going back to work tomorrow depresses me, but it’s crazy to think that Christmas is only three weeks away! With all of the shopping and preparation that needs to happen, and all of the “stuff” going on… I’m sure it’ll fly by.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving, though. We went to my mom’s for dinner with my family, and had a few special guests this year. My cousin, who has spent the better part of the last 10 years or so living in Southeast Asia (she and her husband were ESL teachers), moved back to the States over the summer. She lives in Virginia now, which is still 500 miles away but seems ridiculously close when you consider where she used to be! Anyway, she and her husband traveled up here with their 7-month-old son to spend Thanksgiving with our side of the family for the first time EVER!

Oh, but before we get to Thanksgiving weekend… you may notice in the pics to follow that we have a lot of SNOW on the ground. It came so early this year! We actually got our first dose of accumulation the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving. Nora was so excited and totally into it. When she woke up to snow, she basically demanded to go out and play in it right away. Luckily, she has a very nice daddy who took her out and ran her around. Mommy went out to take a few pictures and a little video but otherwise stayed inside where it was warm. :)

Anyway, we woke up to even more fresh snow on Thanksgiving. Nora wanted to go out and play in it again, but first we snuggled in our pajamas for a bit to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Nora was more into it this year than previous years. She enjoyed the singing and dancing for a while—and kept commenting on the women’s clothing and costumes! She loves twirly/sparkly dresses right now. It was funny because when the Rockettes were on, she said to me, “Mommy! I want to wear that for Christmas!” Ummm… not if your daddy has anything to say about it, kid. :)

Once she got bored, Michael did take her out to play for a while. When she came back in, we made an apple pie to take to my mom’s for Thanksgiving dinner. We got her down for an early nap, got ready ourselves, then headed over to my mom’s around 1:30 p.m. to hang out and watch football. Everyone else arrived around 3:00 p.m. and it was chaos from then on, so we only got a handful of photos.

Nora was playing with a box of toys from my childhood and came across this fan. She was obsessed with it. OBSESSED! She kept walking around with her head tilted up like this (looking mighty snobby, haha!) and fanning herself. I love it. It reminds me of Christina Aguilera in all of her obnoxious glory on The Voice.

It starts already… Trying to get the girls to pose for a photo but they wouldn’t stop touching each other. I see a lot more of this nonsense in my future. :)

We left between 6:30-7 p.m. in order to get Vivienne home for bed. She was exhausted and was starting to act like it. Nora, on the other hand, stayed behind to have a sleepover with my mom. This is the second time in a few weeks that she has done this, and she LOVES it! It’s some nice quality time with my mom and of course Grammy spoils her a bit by letting her stay up late watching movies, allowing her to sleep in bed with her, and giving her pancakes for breakfast. On Friday morning, my mom made her pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse. When my mom showed her, apparently Nora goes, “My mommy doesn’t do that.” OH SHE IS SO DEPRIVED.

In the late morning on Friday, we went and picked up Nora from my mom’s to go get a Christmas tree. We bundled up for it—snow pants and everything!—because we knew the snow would be moderately deep and we’d be traipsing all over the tree farm with the kids in tow. We even pulled Nora in a sled because it was WAY easier than having her walk!

The girls and me with our tree!

By the time we got home with our tree, Nora was more than ready for a nap thanks to her late night with Grammy. I took her upstairs but she was sure to warn me before I left her… “You have to wait for me, Mommy! You can’t put the tree up without me. You have to wait for me. I want to help.” It was then that it became abundantly clear that she is COMPLETELY into it this year. She gets it, and it’s awesome.

We did go ahead and get the tree in the stand and in the house while she was napping. I also put the lights on because let’s face it, with all of those things, there’s no easy way for a 3-year-old to “help.” When I did get her up from her nap, she came downstairs and immediately wanted to put ornaments on the tree (of course). After every one she put up, she would come running back over for another and telling me, “I did it, Mommy!” So cute.

We brought out our Elf on a Shelf, too. He made his first appearance when Nora was in the bath that night. I put him up on the stairway banister while she was in the bathroom and he was just THERE when she came out. Once she was ready for bed, I read her the book, and… well, she was completely freaked the hell out. While I read the book, I could see the look on her face grow concerned and fearful as I read about how the elf would be watching her and would tell Santa if she should be on the naughty or nice list. But she played along and officially named him “Sprinkles.” (Our elf was around last year, but he went nameless since Nora was still too young to really understand.)

But by the time we were winding her down for bed, she was telling me, “Sprinkles can’t come in my room, Mommy!” And then when we tried to get her to go into the bathroom to pee before bed? She started crying, “I don’t want to go out there [into the hallway with the elf]!! I’m scared!!”

To try to overcome this, we played up Sprinkles big time. Vivienne and I went right up to him and pretended we were talking to him and telling him what we want for Christmas. Shortly thereafter, Nora came around and has been fine ever since. In fact, she loves looking for him in the mornings and completely believes that he holds the key to her being on the naughty or nice list. I can’t even tell you how wonderful THAT has been so far. Can Sprinkles stay here all year?? :)

We celebrated with Michael’s family on Saturday when everyone was able to come into town. Somehow we managed not to take any photos that day—thankfully Michael’s sister took many!—but it was a good time. Nora had fun playing with her other cousins.

Now that we’ve respected the turkey… bring on Christmas! HO HO HO!