Our Thanksgiving Holiday: Friday and Saturday

Before I go on to write about the happenings of our days on Friday and Saturday, I had to include just a few pics of us last year on Thanksgiving. The picture below is of the three of us on Thanksgiving morning. The little man was 9 and a half months old and oh so cute.

This one was taken at the tree farm the day after Thanksgiving last year.

And this one was taken on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as we prepared to decorate our tree.

Okay, back to the present.

Friday: On Friday morning after sleeping in just a little later than normal we had breakfast with my mom... I can't believe she cooked us breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving. We are so spoiled! Then my mom and I headed over to my sister's apartment to help her put up and decorate her tree. While the girls did that, Terrell took the little man over to his parents house so they could spend some more time together. My sister's tree came together quite nicely and fit in the space she had perfectly. She also had plenty of ornaments and by the time we left around noon, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas. =)

We met Terrell and Garrison back at my parents house and my dad was done with work by then so we all enjoyed leftovers for lunch. Then we attempted another nap for Garrison. Unfortunately, he fell asleep in the car on the way back from Terrell's parents'. Stink! Those power naps provide a second wind for the little man and there is usually no hope for a nap after that. We still tried and gave it our best effort but a nap just wasn't meant to be. (Make that 3 days in a row without a good 2 hour nap. Oh dear.)

Later that afternoon my parents put in their Christmas tree and we got busy with decorating. Garrison was fascinated with having a tree inside the house and became Papa's shadow while he got it situated in the stand and started putting the lights on.

He also enjoyed climbing the first step on the ladder...

AnAn and Garrison hanging the very first ornament on Granna and Papa's tree.

Attempting to hang another ornament

Checking things out while Papa waters the tree

Friday night we got take-out for supper and finished decorating the tree after Garrison went to bed. It turned out beautiful! And, we actually all made it to bed at a decent hour.

Saturday: Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast before starting to pack up everything to head home. We also made sure to let Garrison fully enjoy the Choo Choo Train around Granna and Papa's tree. They didn't have any batteries the night before, so the little man woke up asking for batteries for the choo choo. He loved the train so much that Terrell and I thought we were going to have to go out and buy one. Now we're thinking it will just be a special treat at his grandparents' houses since Terrell's parents have one around their tree too.

After heading out late morning with the Christmas tree on top of the Jeep and everything, the little man was asleep 5 minutes into the drive... and he slept all the way home. And our hopes of an afternoon nap went right out the window. We still tried a late nap just in case, but it didn't work. And I was just about ready to panic.

Anyway, we always use the Saturday after Thanksgiving once we're back at home to decorate our tree and house for Christmas. This year things got a little crazy when our tree wouldn't fit securely in the tree stand. Terrell worked and worked and worked (and almost lost his patience more than once) with it but it was always leaning or about to fall. At one point we thought we had it "fixed" so we went ahead and put the lights on. Well, putting the angel on top threw everything off and it just about fell over. Finally Terrell decided we just needed to prop it up against the wall while he went out to buy a new tree stand. Thankfully the new stand was just what we needed and we actually managed to hang ornaments later that night.

Garrison trying his best to hang an ornament.

His all time favorite decoration... a merry-go-round that plays Christmas carols. He loves it.

After an exhausting day we actually managed to finish all of our decorating Saturday night except for Garrison's room. Now we can't wait to enjoy this season with him. He is way more aware of things this year and I know it's going to be so fun to experience everything with our little man!

This is Garrison in front of our tree Sunday after we got home from church. (And we praised the Lord when he took a good long nap Sunday afternoon!)