Thanksgiving Day {pre and post}

This post could be divided into pre-thanks giving and post thanksgiving...but instead I'm just going to wrap it all up in one. Here it goes. 

My Mom took the girls to Ballet's Wests the Nutcracker at Weber State. They got all dolled up and Lydia filled her purse with leftover Halloween candy to share with everyone. 

 They had a marvelous time and they came home pretending to be ballerinas. 

 I'm glad they got to do something extra fun with their Nana. 

 Meanwhile, Sarah and I took the boys downtown to a tree festival....which is just what 10 and 11 year old boys love doing right? Ha. Not really, but it was really fun and I got some good ideas for my own tree, and just saw a few creative crafts.

I loved this book tree.

I can't seem to find my Santa tree skirt, so right now I have Christmas books under my tree.

I loved these frames for our future Jesus/Nativity tree.

Simple and homemade.

This was a Wizard of Oz tree. It was so creative!

Ruby slippers. Tin man ornament.

The Lion.

Scarecrow.

I have been searching for this ribbon and can't find it anywhere. Last year they had it at Rod Iron, but they didn't order more this year. I thought the banner was sweet too.

I definitively need to make this someday. Wow!

I was loving their hair on this day. I tried to touch Logan's and he ducked so fast...I told him we needed to come up with a name for his hair do. I'm taking suggestions.

This was Sarah's favorite tree.

Some more cute frames.

My Mom had a miniature tree like this when we were kids. It held suckers and we loved that thing.

Alice and Wonderland Tree.

Cru had no reaction to anything. But he sure looked cute riding along.

I spotted these on my way out....Santa's clothesline. Love this too.

The boys spent the rest of the afternoon playing Monopoly.

Now back onto Thanksgiving. I really don't like to do anything Christmas related before Thanksgiving....I think it dilutes the magic, but the tree festival was supporting a good cause.

Here is Mom's beautiful table.

Lydia and I filled the place settings.

Kids table.

We used Lydia's tablecloth too. It looked great.

I requested this appetizer. It is so good. I think its called Jalapeno jelly.

I made one of the 5 pies served. I made this one the night before....at 10 p.m. with an actual real pumpkin. (No canned stuff.) I roasted one of our neighbors pumpkins because just that day Tyson had thrown out the rest of ours and I wasn't going to dig them out of the garbage. It was fun to make and I think it tasted great. I used my cousin Claudia's recipe.

We brought along lots of games to play with after dinner. I taught my family how to play Pounce with Rook cards. Pounce is a Haslem Thanksgiving tradition.

Mom was so organized that she had time to sit and read a bit while we waited for all the guests to arrive.

Meanwhile, Granddad and Lydia read a pile of books.

This was on Mom's fridge.

This must have been a great book....look at that face.

The front door.

The Cole's were next to arrive.

Tyson watched some football....of course.

We went for a walk behind the house and took a few family photo's for Christmas cards.

Sarah always carves the turkey. I've never carved one in my life. She's awesome.

The Walkers and the Osenbach's joined us.

Elizabeth had to sit at the kid table. Lydia and Courtney adore her so they were thrilled about the situation.

I think Cru enjoyed his first Thanksgiving meal with teeth. Don't you?

Everyone.

Calvin composed his own Christmas arrangement and he played for us after dinner.

We ended with lots of yummy pie....games....and more visiting.

The next day we woke up and headed to the theater to watch Disney's Frozen. I smiled from beginning to end. It was delightful. (Tyson joined us as well.)

After the show Lydia said, "Mom, I didn't like that movie....I LOVED it!" Ha ha. So there you have it.

Mom & Dad took us to Farrs ice cream in downtown Ogden and then to a park so the kids could play. We ran into Sister Dalton in Farrs. Mom went up and told her that when she couldn't sleep the night before and she read her talk in the middle of the night.

Nathan introduced me to Green Pineapple ice creams many years ago. It is a flavor I would never choose on my mine and now it's the only one I ever request. Tyson and Mom had eggnog and it was delicious too. 

The park.

Ogden River parkway.

It was a picture perfect Thanksgiving and we all had lots to be grateful for. 

Now we are in full Christmas swing, tree is up, music is playing, we have Christmas concerts to attend, parties to party at and more. I love holidays.