HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am just barely making this in on Thanksgiving, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope it was wonderful for all of you. We had a smaller Thanksgiving this year - which is very unusual. My brother and his family weren't with us because this was the year they were at his in-laws. We had hoped to travel and get together with family, but due to alot of things going on we had to pass on that as well. It really is just a crazy year! And then, normally, my parents have other people over to their house, but not this year. Although, its always fun with alot of people, we had a very nice Thanksgiving. Isabella spent the night last night with Papa and Noni and enjoyed watching Cinderella and eating Princess cereal (didn't realize until recently they actually made a "princess" cereal!) Then she "watched" the parade with them, or at least parts of it. It was definitely a more relaxed day, which is kind of nice every now and then. And with less people means extra pumpkin pie! Mom still had everything decorated really pretty. We cooked in the morning, had a wonderful lunch and then after we were done and things were cleaned up we put the girls in the wagon and took a walk and played outside because it was a gorgeous day. We then finished off the night by watching a movie -- Isabella had picked out that she wanted to watch the Grinch (the newer one with Jim Carry) we weren't sure how she would like it and sure enough she got scared of him, so we turned it off and gave her an early present - "Cars". Anyway, no matter how big the Thanksgiving, we definitely have alot to be thankful for!!! I know that God has so greatly blessed me in many ways -- too many to go into (I do only have 7 minutes until its Friday)

And how many are planning on going shopping Friday?!? Or are some of you already getting ready to wait at the doors right now. :) My mom and I normally go -- honestly I have most of my Christmas shopping done, and I rarely find any better deals on that day, but its just kind of a tradition -- you know such sweet memories of terrible traffic, hours of fighting to find a parking space, dealing with rude people who think Christmas shopping means shoving and dirty looks, and then standing in line for hours because you found one good deal - or better yet you just forgot to buy diapers the night before. :) I am looking forward to dressing my girls in Christmasy clothes -- I had hoped to make them something, but I'm so far behind on this that I will be spending lots of time sewing the next week. I know I should have started this earlier! OHHHHH and to make it worse, ur I mean better, they've decided to have a tax free holiday so that not only will people be out for any good deals they think they can find or because it just happens to be the busiest shopping day of the year, but now they will also be out to buy EVERYTHING tax free!! And do you think I'm disappointed that I have most of my shopping done and I didn't get to save on the tax -- yeah right, I might have saved up to $10 -- a nice amount to save, but its worth it to not have to fight over those items or wait hours in traffic or lines. But not to worry, I will still be fighting the crowds, and waiting in the traffic, because it is still a tradition and we can't break tradition!!