what?

It's the last day of November?
HOW??
Seriously.

I'm not sure I can account for the eleventh month of this year.

But I do know we enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with my parents.


I can't say I got my camera out for any food pictures, but I still got shots of several turkeys.


And there was food.
Very good food.

The day started off with the three men in the house slaving away in the kitchen.
That's right...we know how to pick 'em.
They chopped so many onions, no one could see straight the rest of the day.

But did I mention it tasted delicious?

And there was lots of time for snuggling.


As soon as they realized how nice the weather was, the boys were ready for some football.

Chris G and Carson discuss the next play...



Fiona wanted to hang out on the field, so they made her a referee.


But she played favorites.


Oh boy, I'd stay out of the way of this business.
It's the Christopher John vs. Christopher John match-up on the line.
Can't be pretty.



Love the father/son huddle.


We got to see all of my siblings sometime during the visit.
Except for one.
My brother Dan and his family were a bit busy this Thanksgiving.


This is the picture of their new little Seth that he sent us.
We are so excited for them and, of course, I can't wait to munch on him.

We had a great time at my parents home.
The kids were not happy when it was time to come home.
As always, we feel so grateful for such terrific family.
And for parents that hosted all the lovely chaos...thank you!

We also took advantage of the long break from school to visit some other loved ones.
So, to update my "journal," here's some more of what went on during the break...


Visiting Great-Grandma Jones.
Carlie has won an extra, extra special place in her heart ever since she told her she would be her bodyguard during the white elephant game at the family Christmas party a few years ago.
(Now there's something to picture.)
We took her to lunch and the kids serenaded her on not one, but two organs in her front room.
Austin read her a story about a lonely puppy and Chris cleaned out her flower beds.
I just let her enjoy my company :)
And enjoyed her's right back.



We also had a really sweet visit with Great Grandma Stoker.
We loved being with her and miss being able to drive across town and have family nights with her like we used to.
She was teasing Austin, so he's trying to cover his ears...


Our first night away was spent with Chris's brother Josh and his family.
I don't have any pictures, but we had a great time with them.
Thanks for putting us up!

We also got to hang with these crazies.


Oh, aren't they cute?
We love our Rhineharts.
And man do they feed us.
And when it comes to games...let's just say Heather and I never learn.
After all these years, I think it's time we find a new game.
One we can at least cheat easier on.


Thanks so, so much for the fun time!

During the break, Carson took advantage of no school and organized a little turkey bowl with his friends.


They had to play pretty small teams since they only ended up with about 6 boys.
I'm sure the fact that it was SNOWING when it was time to start probably scared most of them away.


But they still had a lot of fun.

And krispy kreme donuts.


Carlie wanted to hang out with her friends, too, during the break.


So she started the season off nicely with a movie party watching Elf.

And being girls.


Carlie has been really excited about making these paracord bracelets (or survival bracelets) lately.


She saved up her babysitting money to buy the supplies.
And she was really sweet to want to share and teach people to make them wherever we went.

And speaking of Carlie being a good sport...
She and I had gone to the mall one day to shop with my mom and sister.
We were trying to help my mom get as much of her Christmas shopping done as we could.
Carlie was fun to have along.
And when we went by the center of the mall, we saw Santa.
There was NO LINE at all.
But we had no little kids with us.
So we tried to convince her to go sit on his lap.
I got my camera out and she went up there.
I'm not sure she was very thrilled about it.
Ok she wasn't.
But I was just getting ready to take a picture of her when I got in trouble by Santa's picture elf.
Really?

So this shot I took as I was being scolded.
Lucky thing my camera wasn't confiscated, honestly.

The bad part was, I realized that my daughter was sitting uncomfortably on Mall Santa's lap saying, "Ok mom..."
She was waiting for me to hurry and take the picture.
I said, "Never mind."
She stomped back over to us and, not knowing what happened, was not too pleased with me for not bothering to even take the shot after all.

And so, I am posting the picture.
Take that, mean mall elf.


When we got back to town, we had some fun and relaxing family time.

We saw a 3D movie.
Dolphin Tale.
We loved it.


And we put up the Christmas tree.
I'm sorry to say that I was almost feeling unhappy when I got out the Christmas stuff.
That's not normal.
But I was thinking of all the lovely ways I wish I could decorate, but I knew I didn't have the money to buy new decor.
So I was less excited about putting out the same old stuff.

But I got thinking about all the things that make Christmas special.
Even though I admire the gorgeous decorations I see, I know that what my family will love and remember will be the things that have been around forever.
It was that way for me.
The same stockings that my aunt had sewed for me, the one particular vanilla candle whose smell meant Christmas, the little elves my parents had since their wedding, etc.

So we decorated our tree and hung the stockings from the chimney with care.
And my kids have honestly never been more excited for Christmas.

And it's still November.

Every year my parents give us a new ornament for our tree.
Check out this new cutie...


Santa on a float plane.
They bought it in Alaska to remind us of the float plane trip we took.

It's right at home on our tree.

And now let the countdown begin!!!