What a great Thanksgiving weekend.  We celebrated here at home in the afternoon and that evening, I went to the hospice house while Chris and the boys had dessert with neighbors.  We’ve had boatloads of turkey leftovers, some of which have already been transformed into turkey salad sandwiches, turkey broth, and turkey tetrazzini.

The next day, I actually braved the crowds at around 10am and went shopping on Black Friday… for tin foil, a sieve, and deodorant!  I drove to Target and thought, “If it looks crazy, then I’ll just turn around and head home.”  I figured that by 10am, most of the crazy shoppers would be done and gone and I was right.  I wouldn’t have gone at all, but I really needed that metal sieve for my turkey broth.  I was glad that I was “brave” and went.

Later that afternoon, I raked about a million leaves in our front yard and we started our Christmas decorating.  Wreaths went up, the tree was decorated, the stockings were hung on the mantle, and a few other odds and ends were put out.  On Saturday, Chris broke down and bought the light projector that Joe has been asking about for the last 2 years.  I’d always considered them tacky, but I see their advantages – set up one of these babies and you don’t have to worry so much about arranging yards and yards of lights around columns and from the rooftop!

One neighbor has already jokingly texted that it’s time to “let the war of the Christmas lights begin”.  I love our street!

On Sunday afternoon, the boys and I assembled and decorated the gingerbread house.  I always wanted to do something like this when I was a kid and bought some mini-houses last Christmas.  The boys had full reign with those mini-houses last year and they had a blast.  This year, I found a larger one at Aldi and did most of the assembling and decorating myself – I was having so much fun!  The boys did help with putting decorations on the roof, but I admit that I hogged the project.  I think they’ll forgive me 🙂