Just like it always does, the Thanksgiving holiday snuck right up on us and was over before we could grab the camera. I honestly didn't take a single photo of the weekend but it was wonderful nonetheless. A week before the holiday began we had a fun time decorating for Christmas. We had to remind ourselves that Turkey Day was soon approaching as we strung lights, garland and ornaments all around the house. Ben and I don't think there is nearly enough time to fully enjoy the Christmas season, so we figured we wouldn't wait to get into the festive spirit.
The Kindergarteners celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with a class party where they pinned the feather on the turkey, popped corn, painted boats, and so on. I was stationed at "Pilgrim Bingo" for the party and like usual loved spending the time with Belle. Although she is thriving at Creekside Forest, Isabelle was relieved to have a few days off from school and we loved having her home with us all day again.
This was one of our first Thanksgiving weekend's to actually spend not traveling. We took our time and were lazy and enjoyed not packing a suitcase for a change. On Thanksgiving Day we were loudly awoken by Isabelle at the crack of dawn yelling to get up quick so we could make it to the Coles Crossing Turkey Trot. We hadn't planned to run this year but Isabelle screamed Get up lazy bones! This is one of the benefits of living close to Grammie! as Ben and I still enjoyed our warm bed. Of course, how do you argue with that?
So off we went like the speed of light gathering clothes and shoes and gifts and made it the 30 minutes to Coles Crossing just in time to start the race. Olivia stayed with Ben while Grammie, Tara, Belle and I did a quick loop and found our way back to the finish line in time to receive a 2011 Turkey Trot medal. Sweaty and thirsty we made our way to Grammie's where we found Alee, whom had run earlier, Nick, Leo and Grandpa. We enjoyed the day cooking and eating yummy traditional foods, being lazy and of course remembering all that we have to be grateful for.
The highlight for us Christensen girls of the Thanksgiving weekend is the day after the turkey...Black Friday! Last year we got little Isabelle involved in the fun and she has literally waited for 52 weeks to shop in the middle of the night again! (I overheard her telling someone a few days before that My mom and I could skip right over the turkey and go straight to the Black Friday shopping. I was a proud mama!) We sat by Grandpa's fire and searched the ads for all of our favorite buys and then plotted and schemed. Belle had circled almost every item at every store, so we had our work cut out for us. We even printed store maps so we would be totally prepared. When it finally grew dark we hit the road and made a good dent in our Christmas shopping. Most of the fun is the competitive hunt and thankfully we all came home unharmed, although we were close to a serious brawl in Walmart.
We finished the holiday weekend off with more days sleeping in and more time visiting with family. We snuck in a game of bowling at Belle's request, saw the new Twilight film in the theatre and ate lots of pumpkin pie. We have so much to be grateful for and we are thankful there is a holiday we can enjoy celebrating that reminds us just how lucky we are. Even though we forgot to take out our camera over Thanksgiving weekend we did pause and give thanks.
I’m thankful for the many things
That help us live as well as kings,
For all the food that makes us drool,
And another holiday from school.
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