Thanksgiving 2011

We had a wonderful time celebrating Nathan's first Thanksgiving. We are overwhelmed with thankfulness for that little boy. I remember last year looking forward to this Thanksgiving knowing we'd have  high chair at the Thanksgiving table. Holidays are so special with little ones. We hosted Thanksgiving at our home again this year. It's become a tradition to host, and I really enjoy it. Plus it's much easier to invite all our family into our home than trying to divide our time among everyone we need to see. Matt took off work on Wednesday, and it was fun to have him home with Nathan and me for an extra day. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday baking and preparing for Thursday. Matt cleaned the whole house for me on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning (I always save the coupon he gives me at Christmas for a whole house cleaning for the week of Thanksgiving).

My grandparents and Aunt Sydney arrived on Wednesday afternoon. My parents joined us for the evening, and we ate pizza, laughed at Nathan, played cards, and visited.

Thursday morning, Matt's parents arrived and we had a full house for the day. My mom, Barry, and I worked in the kitchen some of the morning getting things ready. Barry smoked a turkey, and it was delicious. He is always in charge of preparing the meat. He cooked a ham too. We also had plenty of time to watch the parade and visit for the morning.

We had to get a family picture on Nathan's first Thanksgiving.

Nathan got so much attention all weekend. There were always available arms to hold him and rock him and play with him. He soaked up all the spoiling.

We ate Thanksgiving lunch and I think everyone enjoyed it.

We had turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, glazed carrots, green bean casserole, corn, cherry salad, cranberry sauce, and rolls. For dessert I made a cheesecake and pumpkin roll. My fridge is still full of leftovers

Nathan got a little treat of sweet potatoes and apples for his first Thanksgiving. He mostly played during lunch though. Next year, buddy you can eat all you want.

That evening we just relaxed, ate leftovers, played cards, and spent time as a family. We also watched some football. I love having a house full of all the people we love.

Matt cooked everyone breakfast Friday morning and Nathan said goodbye to his grandparents. Granny, Grandaddy and Aunt Sydney stayed through Saturday morning. On Friday afternoon we headed over to my parents' house. Barry smoked ribs for lunch and we played a couple games of Settlers. The girls also did a little shopping that afternoon. No crazy black Friday shopping, but we wanted to get out of the house for a little while. We went to Hobby Lobby, Stage and a local baby boutique.

We went back over to my parents Saturday morning for breakfast and to say goodbye to Granny, Grandaddy, and Aunt Sydney. Then Matt and I came home and loafed the rest of the day. We were both pretty exhausted from the busy weekend. Saturday night we set up our Christmas tree and decorated it. Nathan tried to help some. We showed him all our favorite ornaments and let him play in the lights. It was a wonderful long weekend filled with many special memories.