Thanksgiving 2014

We decided we were not going to make the drive to Utah for Thanksgiving. We went last year, so we planned to go for Christmas instead. I was a little bummed to be  missing all the fun stuff back home like Black Friday shopping with the sibs and Holly Days, so I asked Emily if they would be around, and we decided we would do a group "Friendsgiving" together with Stephanie Colton and Anneliese Fix and their families.

We talked about it a lot but never really planned anything til about a week before. We decided to have dinner at our house because it has the "most" room. We divvied out the food responsibilities and prepared to party.

The boys wanted to start the festivities off that morning with a bottle of sparkling apple cider. They could bathe in that stuff.

I started the turkey that morning, low and slow, in my brand new electric roaster Kev bought for me. Sadly, no beautiful turkey photos. Don't know why...

Also made my most favorite (and easiest) cranberries from Tyler Florence's recipe.

I was in charge of the turkey, stuffing, gravy, apple tarts, and cranberry punch; but can never resist making cranberry sauce because I love it so much.

I made these yummy little apple tarts courtesy of Ina Garten. Big return for minimal effort.

Apple tarts after glazing

Because watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is so exhausting...

Parade lounging

There was mass pandemonium and hysteria in the streets when a Skylander balloon was spotted in NYC. Back to you, Matt.

Of course it snowed and snowed that day. Kev got the drive and sidewalks all shoveled off and then it was almost a blizzard.

So, I took this photo as we were getting all the food set out and the kids arranged at the table. I realized later...much later...I had never taken one with the food uncovered. Maybe Emily did....lol.

There was no shortage of food and beverage, obviously

The kids were so cute! They barely squeezed around the little table, and Declan and Branson had to sit elsewhere, but they had so much fun.  I had to post three similar photos because Edison looks less and less thrilled in each one.

Clockwise from top; Tucker, Cael, Dahlia, Evalet, Kyan, Jaxon, Edison,and Alex

The adult table was so "fancy."

I should have taken a ton more photos but I was too busy eating, talking, laughing, and having fun. The guys congregated to the living room to watch football and us girls just talked around the table while the kids ran amuck and caused the usual chaos. Stephanie brought supplies for a cute turkey day craft and the kids loved it.

Us girls! I thought we threw a pretty good Thanksgiving together!

Emily, Stephanie, me, and Anneliese

Kev had to go into work due to some ridiculous emergency (boo) so the kids and I wound down the evening with a family tradition; snacks and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

Yep, Kyan's "snack" was the entire container of leftover mashed potatoes.

The next day was Christmas tree day. We were planning to be in Utah for Christmas so I wanted the tree up ASAP so we could enjoy for as long as possible. Kev helped us put up the tree. He hardly ever gets to help us decorate so he took advantage of the smidge of free time he had and joined in before heading back to work.

We give each kid a new ornament for the tree every year. It's a tradition my mom did when I was growing up, and now I have quite the collection of ornaments, and I love doing it with my kids, too.

Figuring out the  new tree via the iTwinkle app. Kev snagged the tree on sale last year after Christmas. The lights can be programmed to music and all kinds of flashing patterns. It's pretty cool!

Horribly unflattering photo of me, but Kev says I'm always taking the photos and never in them so  he was going to fix that.

Blue watched with great enthusiasm. It was about -4, so all he wanted to do was hunker down and nap. Can't say that I blame him...

Kev was headed out to the field again to try and solve frozen pipe issues, so I packed up some T-giving leftovers in my trusty Easy Lunch Boxes and sent him off.

The boys and I finished up the tree and sat back to enjoy the view. The did a great job of trimming the tree!

Hiatt Christmas tree 2014