*Almost* Christmas Time!

Just one more day until December! We are putting our lights up outside this weekend, then getting our fresh tree next week. We all just love the holiday feel in the air and the anticipation of waiting for the next snowfall!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I was very happy to be off work that day and was able to get most of my prep work done the day before. My mom had her big dinner at noon on Thursday and I took sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and deviled eggs (that Nick made). Both of my brothers and their families were there, and we had fun talking and eating the delicious food my mom cooked. We headed home around 2 and I got right to work in the kitchen on my meal!

My dinner was in the evening and I wasn't quite sure who all was going to make it--I ended up feeding 11 people! I cooked every single thing from scratch and it all turned out so delicious. It is feels so satisfying to work hard on a meal then hear that everyone enjoyed it! After we had Brad, I insist on making our own dinner each year for the holidays. It's fun to travel and see other family but I want us to have our own private family time at our house, on our schedule, with my homemade food. I love to cook and I feel the holidays are my time to shine and share my skill with my loved ones! As a nurse, I never really know which holidays I will be able to spend at home so our schedule also has to remain flexible.

I keep my menu pretty traditional and tend to make the same dishes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would like to try some new holiday dishes but my family (ahem, husband) is pretty picky and I don't think it would be greeted with open arms. This year I made turkey, sweet potato casserole, dressing, whole cranberry sauce, roasted carrots, mashed potatoes/gravy, deviled eggs, yeast rolls, and pumpkin pie. I hardly have any leftovers!

I didn't do any black Friday shopping--unless you count a new winter coat I bought online! I've done it a couple of times and to me it is just not worth the headache. I shop throughout the year and by this time I usually have 80% of my gifts bought. The chaos and lines do not seem appealing to me! I would rather relax at home with my boys and be thankful for the things that we already have.

Tomorrow is me and my mom's second annual Christmas card date! She is coming to my house and we are working on all of our cards together so we can mail them out next week. I already have adorable stamps to use, and our new family photo for the card came in the mail a few days ago. I'm taking a few people off of my list this year that I'm not in contact with (or should I say they're not in contact with me....) so if you get one then you made the cut!