Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our day was pretty close to perfect! I had stayed up the night before very very late, prepping the turkey, making pies of all sorts, cleaning, decorating the table, etc. The following morning, my husband got up early and put the turkey in the oven and allowed me to sleep in.....it has yet to be settled exactly WHO gets credit for making the turkey....the person that did the grunt work, or the one who got up at the crack of dawn to put it in the oven....Vote anyone?

Well, in doing his best to help me out, my darling husband forgot exactly what time he put Big Bird in the oven. I was hoping to have our feast set before us on the table around Noon....but without knowing what time to expect the turkey to be ready, I really had no clue as to when to start the side dishes. Ah well. I turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and sat with my favorite girls in the whole world as they ooooooh'ed and ahhhhhh'ed over the balloons and bands. I hope to one day be able to go to New York City to watch it in person some day.

I kid you not, I went to baste the turkey again at 10:30, and the little pop up thingie they stick in the breast was sitting up. That can't be right!?!?!? We are eating at noon! So I stuck a regular meat thermometer in Big Bird, and sure enough....The bird was done. Fully cooked, looking beautiful....and no side dishes to eat. The potatoes hadn't been pealed for Eben's Famous Mashed Spuds, no green bean casserole, no cranberry sauce (I cheat...this one came from a can this year)...not a thing was ready. I almost literally had to beat my husband off the turkey with a stick so he would not cut it until the rest of the meal was ready.

But it was worth the wait. An hour later, we were seated together at the table, candlelight shining on happy and hungry faces. We are all truly blessed and have so much to be thankful for. The dinner was delicious, and we were blessed with the opportunity to carry some of the meal to a couple whose plans to go out of town were unexpectedly changed...and I think they appreciated it.

We all relaxed and nibbled on the food the remainder of the day. That evening....we went to a very cute event, where we got to welcome Santa to town, and help kick off the Christmas Season.

Now, most of you know, since we are a family that is on the move, we do not get to see our relatives as often as we would like. So we have what we call "Adopt a Relatives" in every state that we live in. And Louisiana has been no exception. Interestingly enough, our "Adopt-a-Granny" and "Adopt-a-Papa" have been back and forth from Singapore the entire time we have lived here. And we are happy that we have them here for a couple of months. The Middle Apple always picks up right where she left off when Papa comes around. We are so thankful for all of the friends that have been a source of love to our kids.
After singing a few Christmas Carols, Santa arrived by fire truck!
I thought Santa and Mrs. Claus were absolutely adorable. Each child could go visit with them and tell them their Christmas wish.
The Middle Apple and Santa in this picture I will probably treasure for a long time.

The Big Apple was rendered speechless when it was her turn to visit with Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas. Santa gave each child a little toy. And there was plenty of cookies to eat......
And cold chocolate (we don't drink Hot Chocolate here in the south where it's 83 degrees on Thanksgiving Day. My kids and I were covered in clothing simply to keep the mosquitoes from eating us alive.
We finished off the day by going to Ms. Stephenie's house and playing a sidesplitting game of UNO and eating a slice apple pie good enough to make you cry.

It really was a wonderful day. We are all blessed and thankful to God each day for our friends, family, health, and finances.