Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya, Tobi, Eli and Jakob

In keeping with what has become our Thanksgiving tradition (three years in a row) my parents rolled into town following my dad’s annual hunting trip in South Dakota. They arrived the Monday night before Thanksgiving and it was all I could do to keep their excitement at bay and not wake up the kids. They reluctantly agreed with the promise I would let them go in to greet Kaiya when she woke the next morning.

Kaiya was thrilled to see Papa and Babka. The following days were spent playing and catching up. It is always so nice to have extra hands around that LOVE giving out hugs, playing silly games, changing diapers, cooking, working on Andrej’s truck, installing a diaper sprayer on our toilet and holding down the fort so Andrej and I could have a much needed night out with friends.

On Thursday, we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner instead of lunch so it would work best with the kids’ schedules and give my mom the entire day to prepare and cook the feast. This is quite a feat in my kitchen as our tiny oven is downstairs in the basement. Strange, I know, but you definitely get a good workout hauling casserole dishes, bread pans and pies up and down the stairs. We all helped where we could with keeping the dishes washed, peeling potatoes, shredding cheese, etc., but my dear mom definitely gets all the credit.

At 6:15 pm we all stood, mouths watering, and admired the spread and thanked God for the food and all the ways he had blessed us throughout the year. We then sat down to enjoy the fruits of my mom’s labor and everything was delicious. Even Tobi got in on the action by having his first taste of pureed sweet potatoes.

We decided to skip the day after Thanksgiving sales this year. We learned our lesson last Thanksgiving as mom, Kaiya and I tried to go to the mall. We sat and sat in traffic and slowly circled the mall and never found one single parking place. We left and sat in more traffic and decided to never again attempt such a thing. Instead we stayed home and played outside and enjoyed being together as a family.

We knew we wanted to get a Christmas tree on Saturday, but we weren’t sure where to go. We weren’t extremely happy with the farm we went to last year so when my mom saw an ad in the newspaper for a Christmas tree farm that offered free hayrides, hot chocolate and a petting zoo, we knew that was the farm for us. It wasn’t the greatest day for a tree hunt as it was bitter cold and windy, but we bundled up and headed out anyway.

It really turned out to be a neat tree farm where we loaded onto a wagon full of hay bails pulled by a tractor. The driver asked us what type of tree we were looking for and then drove us to that section of the farm. Unlike last year where we had a tough time finding the right tree, this time we chose a tree almost immediately. Maybe it was because the selection was so much better, but the freezing temperatures also helped speed up the process. Andrej sawed down the tree and before we knew it the wagon driver was back to pick us up, load the tree and take us back to the main barn. Mom took Kaiya to the petting zoo for a few minutes, but we were all pretty cold so after paying for and loading up our tree, we headed home.

Kaiya loved decorating the tree and helped hang many of the ornaments. It was fun to let her be a part of the process and the final product was beautiful. My mom also fixed Kaiya a small tree in her room with ornaments depicting the nativity scene. It was so great to talk with Kaiya daily about the true meaning of Christmas as we looked at each ornament. She loved talking about baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. She even understood the roles of the angel, the star, the wise men and shepherds. We will definitely make that her tree every Christmas.

Once the tree was decorated, we had fun trying to get a good picture of the kids in front of the tree for my parents’ Christmas card. They were surprisingly cooperative and we got a few cute ones.

With Thanksgiving behind us and the “halls decked”, we said good-bye to my parents and they loaded their van and headed home after lunch on Sunday. We had a great Thanksgiving holiday that left us all looking forward to our trip down to South Carolina for Christmas. The rest of our Thanksgiving holiday pictures, finding and decorating the Christmas tree, and the Christmas card photo shoot are located here.