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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

24 Hours of Thankfulness

November 25 was, of course, Thanksgiving.  I have to say that I was dreading it this year.  It had nothing to do with our company! Dan and April Barber, long time friends, brought their little gal over and shared a meal with us; they were delightful. The cause of my dread was the knowledge that my children were not going to want one traditional item on their plate and that meant either cooking something special for them or dealing with the blah that comes with kids not wanting to eat.

I chose to give them what everyone else had and I still don't know if I chose poorly.  Bubba ate the green bean casserole and KB ate the sweet potato dish.  Little went to bed without eating a bite.  She lived, don't worry. 

While she was a poor sport about eating, Little was very enthusiastic about everyone sharing 3 things they are thankful for. 
Little: 1) Mom  2) Dad  3) Her Toys

Bubba: 1) A Playdoh Fun Factory (he doesn't have one - he wants one)  2) New Glasses (he doesn't have new glasses but he needs them)   3) Friends at Kirk Day School

KB: 1) Bubba  2) "my sista"  3) friends at school  (Ella, Kyra, Owen, etc.)

The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the day we put up Christmas decorations.  My sweet husband dove in with both feet.  We put the tree up while the kids were in room time and then they helped us with ornaments for the first time.  What makes my husband an even bigger stud is that the Iron Bowl was on during room time and he tried to do both things simultaneously - no easy task for him. 

The kids had their own little trees to decorate for their bedrooms.  I used it as a warm up to putting ornaments on the big tree; it helped them master the fine motor skill of manipulating those hooks over limbs.  (Don't I sound all purposeful.  Don't be fooled.)



Of course, most of the ornaments ended up in the front section of the tree in a 12 inch space knee high. . .

Then Super Honey ramped it up and showed he's even better than the average bear! He watched Auburn beat Alabama while lifting children to put ornaments at different levels. 

KB put the angel on the top

and then pretended to be an angel herself!

To end the day we prepared to head out to a nearby park that becomes a Winter Wonderland of lights during the holiday season.  Frugal me had gotten a 50% off pass but I didn't realize that it wasn't valid until Sunday night.  The tradition of kicking off the season driving through twinkle lights seemed to be a lost dream for 2010 (I was NOT going to pay full price when I had already paid for the 1/2 price ticket and the ticket was non-transferable).  So, you know what we did? 

 Oh yeah! We loaded up in the car and drove a couple miles down the road to a house that goes ALL OUT every year.  They have their own radio station for the occasion and the lights "dance" to the music! There's falling snow, a huge tree, and this year there was the new addition of a screen set inside a wreath and artists actually sang along with their songs!! (As Maria Carey sang "I Don't Want A Lot for Christmas" KB said, "That girl is singing into our car!!)

We parked in the front yard and watched the display for awhile.  Go ahead - call us hoosiers.

It was a super day.  
A super 24 hours.  
I was very thankful!!

2 comments:

April Barber said...

Look at our skinny husbands! What in the world? Loved spending the evening with you. It was the highlight of our day! Love you dear friend.

Marcie said...

I had a fun idea that is a take on the 3 things you are thankful for. (Or maybe I heard it from someone else, you?, and just forgot that part). Let the kids do a hand turkey and color it. They you can (or they can) write the things they are thankful for. That way, you have the progression of the growing hands. Don't you do a CM scrapbook for T-giving? I was thinking about you when we did it this year.