Thanksgiving 2018

We woke up to a blanket of snow this morning & I believe it's the perfect start to the "official" Christmas season. The Smith house started the Christmas festivities soon after Halloween, but that's just because we don't believe there is enough time in the year to celebrate the jolliest season of all. We are all about combining turkey + Santa around here!

We can't jump into sharing all the Christmas festivities without a little recap of our Thanksgiving! This year may have been the very best Thanksgiving ever. We got to enjoy a little bit of it all. All the fun started on Wednesday afternoon when Ryan's vacation began. I baked pecan pie with Magnolia's help, truth is she helped for about two minutes before she ran off to watch Home Alone for the 100th time, but it was fun to have her up counter level as I explained each step. I know as she grows her help in the kitchen will too.



I have to share my secret about the cinnamon rolls. My grandma's recipe is the absolute BEST, but I cheated this year. We got a three pack of Annie's Cinnamon Rolls from Costco & I added homemade icing to the top. Everyone loves double icing right? The icing is two cups powdered sugar, two tablespoons of softened butter, vanilla & almond milk. They are the second best after grandma's & so easy!



The weather could not have been better on Thanksgiving. It was sunny with a crisp breeze! We did lunch at Ryan's parent's house. The girls played together after our feast & they did an early Christmas gift exchange.  Then we continued our tradition of snapping photos of them in his parent's front yard. I laugh a little as I imagine this photo when they are in their teens!



We did dinner at my sister's house & the kids had so much fun running around the house playing all night long! We have a tradition of photographing the cousins on my sister's front porch whenever we're together. My sister got a funny video of us in the background doing whatever it takes to get all four of them to sit still & smile. It's not an easy task, let me tell you! I was caught singing a combination of Happy Birthday, 1-2-3, & Cha-Cha-Cha.





On Friday our nieces Addy & Mylene came over for the day. We took a walk to the school to play before naptime & then we went to see the movie The Grinch & went out to dinner for tacos. Saturday was a lounge around the house kind of day as I did laundry & Ryan mowed the lawn. Sunday we got out in the blizzard to go to church before spending the evening cuddled up watching Christmas movies as the winds blew & a blanket of snow fell from the sky!

Last night Ryan told us we'd go play in the snow after work today & we cannot wait to make a snowman!

Enjoy the start of hot chocolate & cuddle season!!!
xo