Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

I had been looking forward to Thanksgiving for some time! I was guaranteed three days in a row of no work! No obligations! Time to be with family, friends... and time to rest and relax!

Thursday, November 24th was Thanksgiving! Dan and I set an alarm so that we didn't sleep too late that morning. Casually, we got up and got ready for the day. After a light breakfast we gathered our desserts to take over to my parent's house. Dan baked a pumpkin pie and I made some pumpkin ice cream cookies (I made the ice cream and the cookies) and some pumpkin dessert squares (using pumpkin butter from Williams-Sonoma).

We arrived at my parent's house later that morning. Dad had the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV and Mom had the turkey in the roaster. I love the sounds and smells of Thanksgiving!

Dad and Dan worked on some Christmas lights outside while my mom and I watched some specials on TV - and I did a little web surfing. That afternoon we were joined by Dan's parents as well as the rest of the Koval family (minus Kathleen and Brad, who were in Minnesota).

As dinner rapidly approached, things got super busy in the kitchen - just as expected. My dad took on the task of peeling all of the potatoes so that we could have mashed potatoes. He was quite the trooper and did a wonderful job! The Tamie brought some fresh fruit and other goodies for everyone to snack on. It was delightful! I love fruit!

After dinner (which was at 3:00 pm) we gathered for our usual sorting through the Black Friday ads tradition. We sipped coffee and enjoyed dessert and we went through ads and Skyped with Kathleen and Brad - it really felt like they were there! We even managed to take care of our Secret Santa drawing. The whole evening was a blast!

On Friday, November 25th we set an alarm so that we could do some light Black Friday shopping. No, we didn't get up in the middle of the night to begin our Christmas shopping. I think that we set our alarm for 8:00 am. Our main reason for shopping "early" was so Dan could get back at a reasonable hour to work on our outdoor Christmas lights.

We picked up some chairs for our kitchen island at JCPenny and replaced our broken wine decanter with a new one (on sale) at Williams-Sonoma. We also picked up a few sale items from Williams-Sonoma as well.

Later that day, Dan and I started decorating our house for it's first Christmas! While Dan was bringing up the Christmas decorations from the basement he managed to slip in a surprise gift for me - what a sweetheart! Dan had gotten me a new building for my Disney Christmas Village!

The weather wasn't too cold, so Dan spent most of the day hanging up Christmas lights. Me on the other hand, I desperately needed a nap! So I layed in bed and watched a few movies on Dan's laptop. When I woke up it was dark and time for me to start getting ready to go out.

That evening we went out to dinner with my dad's extended family at Hua Ting Restaurant - a new holiday tradition. As usual, the food was delicious and the company was wonderful. Certainly an evening well spent!

My Great Aunt Lorraine and Great Uncle Bill gave us a "little something" for our tree. We opened the gifts when we got home. Since there were two gifts, we each got to open one. Inside the lovely wrapping paper were two "first home" ornaments! A lovely addition for our Christmas tree!

That night, Dan and I finished putting together our island chairs and then put up our Christmas tree. We decorated it while watching The Original Christmas Classics DVD series. It was a beautiful way to end the evening.

Saturday, November 26th we finally slept in - for real! We didn't have any real plans for Saturday, so it was a perfect day for more decorating and relaxing.

Sunday, November 27th I lead the worship music at our church with Tim. That afternoon I went to work at Williams-Sonoma. Honestly, I love helping guests find Christmas presents for their loved ones. You can't go wrong with Williams-Sonoma!

We I got home from work Dan had successfully hidden the pickle ornament on our Christmas tree. This is a fun tradition that we take turns doing each year. This year it was my turn!

After I located the pickle, Dan brought me a little bonus gift for me to open. It was some new figures for my Disney Christmas Village! What a fun surprise!

All in all, Thanksgiving weekend was a wonderful holiday break. In fact, I woke up Monday, well-rested and ready for work!