Thanksgiving, Christmas Tree Jubilee and Seeing Santa

Wow I still can't believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone!! This year's Thanksgiving was small it was just with my family and my sister's family. She reserved her church so the kids could have a bigger area to move around in and it turned out nice! We split up cooking the dinner. I had the turkey, stuffing, gravy and the cranberries she had everything else. It was quite delicious. However, we almost didn't have any turkey. I had a turkey in the freezer and I took it out to defrost in the fridge Monday night. I was worried when I pulled it out Wednesday morning to check on it only to find it was still frozen quite solid. That's when I started to get a little nervous. Aaron was out and about that morning so I sent him over to Costco to pick up a fresh turkey only to find they were all sold out. I made one more desperate call to a local butcher shop to find they in fact had five fresh turkeys left in stock. I breathed a sigh of relief and sent Aaron over to pick up the biggest one they had--a 26 pounder. It was a full 26 pounder because I didn't have to deal with the stupid gravy packet inside it like all the frozen turkeys come with. I was glad because what is Thanksgiving dinner with no turkey?! Anyway I prepared it the night before and Aaron volunteered to get up at 5 am to stick it in the oven for me--what a nice guy!! The rest of the morning I spent cooking, cooking, and cooking some more. I had to make the cranberries and the stuffing as well as cook almost a whole entirely separate allergen free meal for Daniel so he wouldn't have to eat just a poptart for Thanksgiving dinner. I also made the cranberries with fresh cranberries, however, I burned the first batch. I started cooking it and then had to break up some crisis between my kids only to come back and find it was quite burned on the bottom of the pan. It was burned so bad it has been soaking in the sink since yesterday morning and I still can't get the charred cranberries off the bottom of the pan no matter how hard I scrub. I really liked that pan, too. I will keep trying to scrub it off, but it's not looking good. Of course I had to throw that first batch out, but oddly enough I had another bag of fresh cranberries in the freezer. I pulled them out and cooked them, but this time I didn't stop to break up the other crisis' that happened while I was cooking. What's a little game of screaming cross body slam inside the house between siblings? When everything was finished cooking we transported it to the church, set everything up and then gobbled until we wobbled. Sarah tried to be proper by using her utensils, but eating with the knife and cutting with the spoon didn't work out so well for her.While we cleaned up we put a movie on for the kids and scooted the couch over so they could watch. While the TV was on we got a lot done. Hey the whole world could explode, but if the TV were on none of them would ever take notice...is that a good or bad thing?--I am still trying to decide. Of course we cleaned up and perused the Black Friday ads to strategize. We decided to hit the midnight sale at Walmart. We got most of what we went for and then some.

After the catch up nap for me this morning, my family headed over to the Ogden's Christmas Tree Jubilee. It is a fund raiser for special needs kids in the Ogden and Weber School districts. Local businesses and families decorate Christmas trees and donate them for a silent auction. They let the public come and view the trees before they are taken down. We have done this for about 5 years and love it. We parked outside. Aaron got the stroller out for Noah. While I was unbuckling Noah and getting him out of the car Sarah hopped in the stroller thinking it was for her. She absolutely refused to get out and it was too cold to try and argue with her--the little stinker!! I ended up carrying Noah down the street and into the building while Sarah got a nice cushy stroller ride. When we got there we looked at a few of the decorated trees and then we got into the line to see Santa. Aaron held our place in line while I took the kids over to make the crafts they had. Matthew loved chatting it up with the people in charge. They made little clothesline reindeer, beaded candy canes and then wrote letters to Santa. Sarah of course had to participate like her brothers. Aaron took the opportunity of the vacated stroller to throw Noah in before Sarah could come back to stake her claim again. Noah was pretty happy-go-lucky the whole time.

Here's Matthew showing off his reindeer who incidentally is name Erika after his bus driver. Erika the red nosed reindeer....doesn't quite work does it? It is better left as Rudolph, but don't tell Matthew that.Sarah finished with her craft to come back to find Noah in "her" stroller. Luckily, she didn't get upset, she just gave him a kiss.Finally it was our turn to see Santa. Matthew hopped up with his letter and started right into telling them what he wanted. Noah just looked at them both not knowing what to think. He didn't cry though--I don't know if he will be as happy next year when he sees them. Josh rattled off what he wanted, too.Daniel didn't have any problems listing all his wants either.Sarah had to get on Santa's lap because her brothers did. She was happy for the first picture then she started eyeing Santa like "Who the heck are you?!" and hopped right off.

Afterward she really enjoyed her green candy cane she got from Mrs. Clause as you can see it smeared all over her face, hands and clothes.

While the kids were telling Santa all their wants, Santa had to cringe because it didn't match any of the stuff Santa had picked up for them at the Black Friday sales he had spend the majority of the night at. I guess Santa will have some returns and exchanges to be doing in the next few days--DOH!!

Anyway, I really do have lots to be thankful for and I was really reminded of that when I read the stories about the special needs children that were benefited by the Christmas Tree Jubilee. It never ceases to amaze me whenever I get down, there is ALWAYS someone else who has it worse. I am thankful for the challenging, but wonderful kids I have. I am blessed to be married to my best friend who is able to laugh and cry with me as well as help me through the challenges we face together. I am thankful for the job Aaron has to support us, for the food we have to eat, for the warm house we have to live in and for the wonderful blessing of a working car for transportation. I am thankful for our educations and careers we have been blessed with. I am truly blessed to be a stay at home mom. I am also extremely thankful for the gospel and the comfort it gives me in times of trials. I love the Thanksgiving holiday because it helps remind me of how much I am blessed with!! I must add I also am very thankful for You-Tube since it helped teach Aaron how to carve his very first holiday turkey!! We had a great Thanksgiving!!