Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving ushered in a weekend of family, friends and decking the halls around our home. On Thanksgiving, while Chris was out running the turkey trot with 14,000 other crazy Buffalonians, the boys and I stayed home eating homemade cinnamon rolls and playing Monopoly while we watched the parade in our pjs. It was the first time we actually watched the parade from beginning til its Santa end. The boys loved it and I admit to tearing up a bit watching Santa on his sleigh. It brought back so many memories of my own excitement as a child.

I love lazy mornings that turn into lazy afternoons until it is time to get ready for dinner and we all have to change from pjs into real clothes at 4 pm in the afternoon. Holiday perfection.

We spent Friday decking the halls. We decorated every inch of the house and dug out the christmas ornaments to ensure we were all ready to deck out the tree on Sunday. Our Elf on the Shelf, Buddy, made an appearance fresh from the North Pole. And I surprised the boys with special christmas blankets on their beds to bring their bedrooms a bit of holiday cheer.

We had friends over for dinner on Friday night and then I was off with my dear friend Danielle to see the almost final installment of Twilight. (Who says vampires and turkey don't go together? Perfect match, particularly after a couple of glasses of wine.)

On Saturday, we were off to hunt down the perfect christmas tree. We had to find a new tree farm this year after our traditional family farm shut down for good last season. (So very sad.) Chris decided that this year we would cut our own tree down. We were off to the very rural country in hunt of a tree farm Chris found on google.

We all loved it. With hot chocolate in hand, we hiked in to the forest of trees, searching through rows and rows of trees to locate *our* tree. Discarding tree after tree, until we finally found our chubby, much too big for our room but we like it anyway, perfect christmas tree. Chris got out the saw and cut that bad boy down, to the accompanying oohs and has of his much impressed male offspring. There is nothing that says holiday cheer like an ax and the smell of pine needles.

On Saturday night, Chris and I left the boys at home to join the rest of my family at the Sabres game. My uncle had secured a box, food and drinks for all of us to enjoy the game together. Hockey games are always fun, over the top of events in hockey crazed Buffalo, but add in watching the game and hoopla with my nana and grandpa, cousins home from college, aunts and uncles, and it becomes something amazing. The Sabres must have known because they played like they were on fire.

On Sunday, we decorated the tree. I always have this hallmark version of what our tree decorating should be, but instead it essentially involves the boys fighting over the ornaments, throwing them on the tree and my rearranging every single ornament the moment their backs are turned. I just can't seem to help myself.

It's Christmas time. My favorite time of the year.