A Blessed Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I love all the traditions that we have and the things we do together.  One of them is that Callie and I decorate the table together.  She has beautiful penmanship.  It's gorgeous!  I love when she makes the placecards for the table.

Beth always does the mashed potatoes.  She's thankful to get the younger ones that help her to peel them!

We always have Grammy's pumpkin pie and I make pecan pie.  So yummy!!

And we always have a ton of food.  That's a tradition for sure!!  Does anyone else forget to set food out?  We realized after the meal that our Angeled Eggs (It's our version of deviled eggs. ;o)  were still in the fridge!!

I had the joy of sitting by our Freedom Joy. Isn't her smile contagious!?  Her and Liberty loved all the food, but especially the little sweet pickles.  They went back for more and more!

Patriot's first Thanksgiving!!

Before Thanksgiving we decided to quiz our kiddos on what they really thought was important on Thanksgiving.  I realized that our lives can be too full, and sometimes the things we think are the most meaningful in our children's lives really aren't. 

 For instance, I always thought when Josh, Beth and Brenna were little that we needed to bake a ton of cookies around Christmas.  We would plan a big baking day and be in the kitchen for hours together.  The house would smell so good of sugar cookies, nuts, mint, and everyother yummy baking smell.  We would bake and bake, then eat and eat and then I would clean and clean.  Wonderful memory, right?  But, as we've talked with our older three, it was a stressful day. It was a day that wasn't really their favorite.  I had high expectiations of it being a picture perfect day.  But, it really never was.  It's one of those traditions that I did because that's what you do at Christmas, right?  When I stepped back and realized that we can still celebrate Christ's birth without needing to bake 20 dozen cookies in a day, it was very freeing.  It gave me a peace to know that it's okay to not do it.  

So, I decided to ask my younger three about the holidays and what they like to do and what they feel can be taken off the list.  I was surprised to find that high on all of their lists was our Thanksgiving walk.  Really? It's amazing that something that doesn't cost a thing or take preplanning and organizing, is something they love.  We simply just BE TOGETHER.  After we eat our last bite, but before we have dessert, we step away from the table and go for a walk down our street.  We talk and laugh and realize we ate too much.  But, we love it.

After our walk and then coming back in for dessert, we head out to get our tree!

You'd think this would be a simple thing, but it sometimes takes up to an hour for us to make our decision!

And then we start decorating.  It's so fun!!

I love how we all have a part!

And then, I put on the star.  Every tree decorated with love and memories is beautiful.

 At the end of the day I am tired and my feet are sore.  But, I am content.  I love sitting down with a cup of peppermint cocoa and look at the tree. We usually put on a Christmas movie and I scan the Black Friday Ads.  It's been a good day!