Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Because Chuck's parents moved this spring, and because we'd have to be millionaires to afford plane tickets at Thanksgiving to be at my parents' house, we had no other choice but a friends-only Thanksgiving. All the regular characters were there (turkey, cranberries, orange rolls, sweet potatoes, pie, you know), but this time with friends instead of family. As expected, we had a wonderful day. I started with an early (6:30 a.m.), cold (25 degrees), long (9.5 miles) run with my friend Sharon*. When I finished, Chuck got his physical activity in the form of flag football. Then we both put the kids in front of the tv so we could work on the food. We brought cranberries, sweet potatoes, two pies, and orange rolls. (Yes, maybe it's weird to post a picture of the food, but I was so proud of it all.)


We had four kids who all happily sat at the kids' table. I have no idea what my boys ate, but I also don't care. As long as they let me enjoy the company and food, I was happy.




Friday we spent all day at home with the exception of our trip to get the tree. I wish I could say we supported a local, organic farm. Or that we chopped down our own after snowshoeing for miles. But we chose to not afford the first option, and the second option is just too far away. So option 3 ($21 tree at Home Depot) would have to do. We spent all morning decorating the house and all afternoon sitting in front of the fire. It was awesome.

Saturday morning a friend hosted an Ugly Sweater 2.2 mile race. Five people ran and guess who won? ME. I. I won a race. I'm still pretty proud of myself. And not only was I the first to finish, I also got the award for "Granny"-est sweater. Chuck clearly earned his medal. (These items were purchased specifically for this race. They did not come from our regular wardrobes.)


Sunday was another day at church (but better than last week because we weren't speaking) followed by some quiet time and the regular week's prep. Our advent activity was to decorate the tree, but since that was completed on Friday, we thought we'd add some cranberry-popcorn strands. (Can you believe that I actually asked my child to look at the camera and smile? I'm such a mean mom.) And yes, the nutcracker wanted to "watch" the activity.


*Can I just say that I am so grateful for my running girls? We started our Thursday night track workouts last January to help train for the half, and we haven't stopped running together since. They are my free therapy. They are my good friends. They are my "me time." I love love love running with them.