Our First Thanksgiving Alone . . .

. . . and we loved it! Don't get me wrong. We absolutely love our families and it was kinda hard to hear them all together laughing in the background when we both talked to our mom's on Thanksgiving, but there was something amazing and special about just being together with our own little family for the day. I even cried when Cole was saying the prayer on the meal. I love my family so much and it was the perfect day and weekend together.

We did get invited to 2 dinners with friends, but respectfully declined so it could be just us. I'm pretty sure some of them thought we were crazy and anti-social, but we were glad we did what we wanted to for Thanksgiving.

This being our first Thanksgiving alone meant it was our first time cooking a turkey. It really wasn't as gross or bad as some make it out to be. We asked our mom's for advice and read up on some tips on some food blogs we love and the bird turned out fabulous, even though I cooked it with the bag of gibblets inside (I'm not dumb. I did look for it and reach in to feel for it, but it wasn't found until the bird was cut.)

It was fun to cook the whole meal by myself . . . Cole and the kids did help too, but you know what I mean. I was able to practice my homemade pie crust skills - made 3 pies from scratch, coconut, pumpkin, lemon (it turned out more like pudding though) and Cole mastered his homemade applesauce pie. Now if I could just get the homemade roll thing down- we did Rhodes instead and they over rose since I couldn't get them in the oven when they needed to.

The food was great and after we cleaned up and put the kids down for naps, Cole watched football and I napped on the couch. It was fabulous. We took a walk as a family in the evening. I forgot to mention that it was a gorgeous day outside - in the mid 60's and sunny and we had our windows open most of the day. It really was the perfect day (and Cole played 3 hrs of football too)!!

Back on Wednesday Macie and Cole both had half days so we went to the Children's Museum and then made popcorn ball turkeys (Cole's family tradition as a kid) for our table on Thursday.

Friday was spent at home, sleeping in, watching football, having friends over for lunch and a tad bit of shopping in the evening.

Saturday we took the kids to Colonial Williamsburg. It was a beautiful day again, clear skies, but windy and brisk. It was so fun to take Macie. She and I have been reading the American Girl book series together and we just finished with Felicity who if you remember lived in Williamsburg. It was fun because she was familiar with some of the history already and laying on the bed in the palace was a beautiful blue dress just like the one Felicity wore to the dance. We took a tour of the palace and got to go to the blacksmith shop and see how things are done. The kids loved the horses and animals and I loved all the wreaths they had on the doors and windows that were decorated with fruit - beautiful.

Sunday was relaxing even though I spoke in Church. While the little ones were napping Cole, Macie and I watched The Wizard of OZ and I took a cat nap too.

We're excited for Christmas and all the things we have planned between now and the new year and just being together as a family.