Thanksgiving

This year we didn't go to Florida for Thanksgiving but stayed here at home. It was sad not to see everyone but it was definitely the best decision. I cannot express to you how wonderful it was to just spend time together and relax. It was amazing. There was only construction on Wednesday and Friday so three out of the five days were completely quiet. It was unbelievable. Also, Doug took off Wednesday and had a half day on Friday so the boys had lots of Dad time. It was fantastic. Especially for one little tiny guy who usually sees Dad only during the night for night time feeding #1. Doug and I have a deal - if it's before 4am, he gets Cillian and if it's after 4am then I get him. About 98% of the nights, we're both up. More than once. Cillian has stealthy gas that likes to sit and wait - it's dormant. It refuses to be burped out of him. And then it sneaks back into the spotlight literally as Doug and/or I am just falling back to sleep. Then Cillian wakes up screaming and we go into his room, pick him up and then usually a HUGE burp comes out just even by picking him up. Poor little guy :)

Anyway, that was a strange tangent.

Back to Thanksgiving! So on Doug's day off, he and James went to pick up our ham (delish) and Cillian and I went to doctor's visits all day. More on those in Cillian's 4 month post. On Thanksgiving morning, we all kind of hung out in our pjs and watched the parade. Cillian got up and went back to sleep a few times and I made a disaster of a pumpkin pie and a delicious banana cream pie (with James!) so ... there you go. Auntie E has promised to have a pie date with me in January - so excited! And I will say two things - (1) the issue was NOT the crust and (2) even E upon reading the recipe I used noticed the different number of eggs and amounts of and types of milk called for in the recipe. Redemption will be mine.

The rest of the food was so delicious. It was so much fun to cook with Doug. James loved helping too. Gran sent us a lovely table centerpiece and James loved lighting the candles. In fact we had a very romantic family Thanksgiving. James insisted upon turning off all the lights. We would have been in total darkness had it not been for the candles. It was ... definitely memorable :)

James loved the parade. (In his fireman uniform ... what? you don't?)

Loved it. Loved the Rockettes - Loved the police at the beginning - didn't like all the singers but Loved the cheerleader type girls that were dancing when Jimmy Fallon and The Roots were playing. So there you go. Margi called us to wish us Happy Thanksgiving and asked to take James to see the Rockettes some time - OF COURSE! And now, I will tell you we have one excited James. I told him I remember going with my Nana and cousins to see the Rockettes when I was younger and how wonderful it was. Even watching them on tv brought back so many memories and I found myself tearing up. I had to excuse myself. The holidays are so emotionally charged sometimes aren't they? So many wonderful memories that just overwhelm you with emotion :)

Anyway, I'll try to keep the tangents under control!

Before the big day, James and I did some crafts and James made a turkey at school out of an apple and a marshmellow and other things. He loved it. Had so much fun doing it.

We made hands and feet turkeys. It's a neat little activity and James loved using the glue stick and deciding where the pieces of the turkey should go. I love it because it's like a keepsake too - it's the size of their little hands and feets! Cillian's turkeys are so tiny. I can't wait to show them when they're huge quasi-adult men navigating the glorious period of time known as adolescence. And also, I'll have something that will help me remember how very tiny they both were.

The turkey this year - oh my gosh the turkey - here it is pre oven smothered in butter. Delicious herbed butter. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

 

And here's the after. I don't even have to tell you how amazing this was.

We flew through the leftovers.

Repeat for Christmas. 

 

 

 

 

And . . . . Cillian got a special treat when Doug was off for the holiday - uniterrupted Dad time. Like one on one Dad time. He loved it. Cillian just happened to not sleep while James was sleeping (which is often the case for me during the week but not on the weekends which is strange) BUT he and Doug were able to just play together and it.was.adorable. Doug with babies - nothing sweeter.

 

I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family or your friends or your significant other :) This year we had so much to be thankful for and I'll reiterate my thanks again - I am thankful for my husband, my sons, my parents, my brother, my friends, my extended family (in-laws and out-laws) and our health and happiness.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!