Christmas time is here!

Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year and it officially starts Thanksgiving morning at about 9am when Santa shows up at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. this year, the girls and I spent the night before at Nana B's so we could wake up and watch the parade with her. David arrived just in time for dinner, per his usual plan. He honestly can't understand why you would show up more than about 10 minutes before sitting down at the table. Austensibly, we were there so we could also help her get ready for the crowd coming to her house. She however, was up and had most things done before I ever woke up. My timing is impeccable. Lauren however, did help Reuben set up the rest. (I know you helped too, Meg. And I played with Catcher so that you wouldn't feel left out. wink.) Ok, this is going to be a little backwards since I obviously don't know how to post pics in order and I am slow getting everything on my blog. I'm so glad that Elise called on Friday (12/5) to see if we wanted to go to see the Nutcracker with her and her girls. I had planned on going to the Hamilton football game, but no one else could go. I asked the girls what they would rather do (thinking they would totally back me up on football) They were shocked, of course they wanted to go to the Nutcracker. It's a holiday TRADITION, didn't I know. One that it's been a couple years since we've done. The girls loved it, Zo especially! She asked Elise nonstop questions throughout the entire show. So hilarious. Lauren was enraptured. She told Zo to be quiet when she tried to ask her questions and Zo was mad. She told Elise that Lauren wouldn't play with her. She only wanted to play with HER friends. I'm guessing these were the ballerinas. Afterward, Lauren reassured Zo that she was her best friend.

At Nana B's house Thanksgiving Day, Lauren was so busy taking pictures of the food, that she pretty much forgot to take pics of the people. It's a tribute to how delicious dinner is at Mom's. Here we are playing the traditional Mexican Train game at the Miller's house Thanksgiving evening. Traditional, in that it is played almost every Sunday!

Back at Nana B's house, Lauren was able to take a picture of Catcher, because he had food in his hands, and face. He was so cute eating this apple. Nana B was enthralled by the tiny apples at Safeway (you know, the ones they used to let people come u-pick after they sold all the good ones to the stores). Well, this one was perfect Catcher size. He couldn't quite break through the skin with his 2 1/2 teeth yet, but once we took a little starter bite, he was going to town. I think he chewed on, sucked on, and generally adored this apple for about 1/2 an hour. He is so hilarious.

This is the pecan pie, before David and Lauren picked off about 1/3 of the pecans. Yes Lauren had already gained control of the camera and was on her food photo marathon.

The day before Thanksgiving, the girls helped make 6 pies, an apple, cherry and pecan for each house we went to. When I took the bags of apples out of the fridge, I almost died. The smell of those apples was like heaven. I just wanted to stick my head in the bag and leave it there. I hear that's not healthy. The girls were a big help with the pies. I don't know how I used to do 10-12. Oh wait, I didn't have a job. We had a blast and were covered with flour and dripping with apple juice by the time we were done. I love it!