Giving Thanks

We missed Gigi after she went home. Here is my crazy kid eating the pie she made for us while she was here. It was delicious. I can’t believe she made it totally without a recipe! She even taught me a handy crust trick that made my life so much simpler on Thanksgiving…roll the crust between two pieces of plastic wrap! It works great.

A couple months ago I emailed the Western Washington council of Girl Scouts and offered to post craft ideas on their blog. They said “yes!”, but it took awhile for them to set it up. Finally I got to post my first entry. I’m a “published” writer now. Heehee…well sort of. Check it out. At least It is a great opportunity for me to have a regular thing to write and if I ever do write for real, I’ll be able to say “I write for a blog for Girl Scouts of Western Washington.”

These are some ornaments that I included in an idea sheet that I posted on that blog. They are also the ornaments my Girl Scouts will be making to give away at the retirement home this month.

On the half-day before Thanksgiving the girls and I had a fun time with an idea I got from Family Fun magazine. When Gigi was here, we were talking about thankfulness. Tegan is always good at saying thank you and writing notes. Kelby isn’t, however Kelby really is very thankful in her heart and she is just too shy or embarrassed to say anything. Tegan is saying what she knows you want to hear, but I’m not sure she really truly appreciates it. The magazine suggested that you give the kids gift bags and have them go through their rooms to pick out gifts for their siblings. They don’t keep them forever, they just get to open them and then the goal is to show appreciation for it, no matter what it is. They had a blast picking out nice and silly things. It really helped them to appreciate giving and receiving…and it was totally disguised as a game. I’m sure that they’ll be more thankful now! The favorite gift to give was underwear and here Anika received a (clean) tiny plunger!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I made two pecan pies, an apple crisp, ham and a seven layer salad while we all watched the Macy’s Day parade. Mike made his famous asparagus spear ham rollups. We had a nice relaxing time over at Debbie and George’s. I even got Melissa to play “Ticket to Ride” with me, a game I got for my birthday. Of course we perused the newspaper for the ads for Black Friday too.

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On the weekend after Thanksgiving we got out all the decorations out and made the house festive. I was disappointed with my decorations when I first pulled them out. They are all second-hand or homemade. However, after I got everything up and around and cleaned up, I felt so much better about it and really just love what I have. The only thing I need is a little bit more for the family room. I’ve never quite had enough for this house.

This little village is my favorite Christmas decoration that I have. The first year Mike and I were married, we didn’t have very much money to spend on decoration. We bought this village at Walmart and painted them ourselves together. They are so precious to me!

The tree gave us a headache this year because all the “pre-lit” lights were not working. We had to dismantle them and put new lights on. I do love having a fake tree though, because it can go up so much earlier.

The girls and I had a Christmas tea party on Thursday because they pulled that out of the advent calendar as their activity. That is my favorite activity of the season. I’m sure that we’ll pull it out again before the end. 

We have lots of great stuff to look forward to this month. Hopefully you do to! Merry Christmas to all!