Thanksgiving and Christmas....My Favorite time of Year......

Well, again Thanksgiving has come and gone! I love this time of year. I just wish I could find a way of holding on to it and making it stay just a little longer...but, I can't, so I will just enjoy each minute. We, again, had Thanksgiving dinner at our house. It is getting harder and harder to keep everybody home long enough to really enjoy each other...but I totally understand other family commitments...we play "sharzies" at our house. We had dinner at noon. All the kids were there, my mom, my brother, my niece and her little family...total about 15 for dinner. We set up a larger table in the living room and the kitchen ... I love to be able to sit down for this particular dinner. It was yummy of course. The company was great and we enjoyed each other. Everybody had to leave to other engagements so we just enjoyed the time we spent with each other. Kati went to Ben's family and later they both came to our house for pie....real nice. Next, Staci came back in preparation for "Black Friday" Love this day! Unfortunately Kati had to work the next day, so she had to make a choice to not spend the early morning with us...Booooo ... we really missed her. We were up at 1:55am...heading to Old Navy at 2:30am....yes, we stood in line for about an hour...actually it wasn't too cold....and yes, there were those people who came later, stayed in their cars and wanted to "crash" the doors to get in without the benefit of standing with the rest of us in line....BOOOOOO! Security was great and most didn't make it in....haha. Kristi got her little boy coats for $15 for her sub for santa...Yippeeee! I stood in line while they looked for things so we didn't have to wait too long to check out...by the time we checked out the line was winding all around the store...CRAZY! Then off to Target...with a short stop at the Maverik for Hot Cocoa...Yummmm....we stood in line, again, for about another hour...again, the door crashers came, but once again...SECURITY!!! What a great bunch of helpful men...they deserve a donut or something Hahaha! Yes, we got some really good deals for, of course who else, Max...again, I got in line as the girls shopped which made our "escape" much more bearable...LOL.....Next, we stopped by Walmart...unfortunately, we didn't see anything we really needed (this year it is "need" gifts rather than "want" gifts...budget budget)and the lines by then were HUGE and not worth standing in....so off to Jim's for breakfast...there Kati met up with us too. We had a great morning. We then went home for a short 2hr nap and then, yes, off to the Malls! The day was long and totally enjoyable, but....it was not finished yet.....yes, we threw in a Movie....Holy Cow, could we do anything more? We saw "The Blind Side" What a great movie....totally a keeper! We will certainly buy this one for our DVD library! Can you say "tired" well I can and did.....we were done! So worth it and will do it again next year! Saturday we set up the tree and decorations while Gary decorated the outside with lights.....we decided to scale down the lights outside this year....they are nice but simple...................what a great Holiday weekend! Through it all, it made me so thankful for all the blessings our family has...we are so blessed and I am so grateful ......now, on to Christmas, deck the halls, falalalala, We Wish you a Merry Christmas, Silent Night and all that good stuff!!!