Thanksgiving...

This year Ted and Ceara hosted the big Thanksgiving feast...

My mom has always hosted the meal,

but when Ceara got married she claimed the holiday

for her own...

and my mom happily obliged!

Ceara planned the meal, cooked and decorated...

and it all turned out pretty perfect!

~

When we first walked in the door,

we were greeted with the sight of this big glass vase...

Everyone was instructed to drop their

smart phones in the vase for a nice peaceful meal of

no texting, facebooking, instagraming...

I thought the vase was a good idea!

 Everything was set up so pretty...

 They even moved all the living room furniture out

and set up tables and chairs for the

big group!

Ceara lined the tables with brown paper and had crayons

strewn about the table

so everyone could doodle while eating and visiting...

a fun idea!

And we even had fun little games to play...

thank goodness for pinterest!

 My sister Ana and her little crew made the 4 hour

 trip north to celebrate Thanksgiving...

and to see Angelina for the first time!

At the sound of the first little whimper from

Angelina, Ana and her boys were right there

to take her out of the carseat...

not that they were anxious to hold her or anything!

 We make it a point to not decorate for Christmas

until after Thanksgiving,

but James just couldn't contain his Holiday enthusiasm any longer

and he had to wear the mistletoe headband

to dinner!

 A week before Thanksgiving Elsie and James

helped Ceara make some little place cards...

Love that they even made one for Angelina!

 No one went away hungry!

Ceara did a whole new menu...without the traditional foods...

no stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc.

She did serve baked potatoes with all the toppings,

lots of veggies, wild rice, turkey, sweet potatoes...

all so yummy!

 Dinner is served...

 It was a fun meal...

lots of laughter!

 After the meal we all did a

little more visiting,

a lot of pie eating,

shared plenty of laughter,

the kids enjoyed a quick romp outside

in the freshly fallen snow...

 Angelina was a pretty happy girl for her

first Thanksgiving...

she slept for awhile, nursed a whole lot,

cried a little, had a massive poopie diaper

and stained up her new dress and tights!

 Play time for

Ana and Gus...

 Ceara read the kids some books...

all the kids love

auntie Ceara!

She always has a ton of exciting energy

and the kids feed of that!

 We had a very fun Thanksgiving...

the kids fell asleep on the car ride home

{and it was just a few blocks!}

Now that Thanksgiving is over...

let the Christmas festivities begin!

Our house is fully decorated and we have even pulled out the

jingle bells earrings!

All the Holidays, the family gatherings,

the little details and rituals...

it all makes this my most favorite time of the year!