Monday, December 2, 2024

Wow – that went by fast and now it’s December! I am linking up with Sarah and Holly to share the highlights of the long weekend. Did you also think it went by incredibly fast?

We usually have a mild Thanksgiving – one where we can be outside on porches and enjoy the crisp late fall weather. Not this year – it was really cold. I missed that outdoor time!

So, we had school Monday and Tuesday but then had the rest of the week off.

I spent Wednesday doing some errands for the holiday and Mason was off work and had time before having a Friendsgiving so he went to the Honeybaked Ham store and Trader Joe’s with me. That was so nice. He wanted to roast cauliflower and broccoli for his contribution so we did that together. I also had time Wednesday to piddle around and just enjoy being at home. I was pretty organized and not running around like a crazy woman.

I like to go out to eat on Wednesday night but both kids were gone and I didn’t want to leave Eddie Otis so Tom and I walked him together and then ate chili leftover from Monday night.

My oven told me it was time…

My oven changes scenes all the time. Who knew I needed such a smart oven? If it were really that smart, it would clean what I need to clean but keep forgetting.

Thursday morning I made mashed potatoes and put them in a crockpot to stay warm:

I used this recipe but doubled it.

I went to pick up the German strudel we had ordered:

We went to Tom’s sister’s house and she always sets a lovely table and her dining room looks really nice. Isn’t the navy and gold combination pretty?

Why is this meal so good?

Remember how I said it was much colder this year? I didn’t want to wear a skirt or dress because of that and I made a big mistake…I wore my brown pleather pants which are pretty seriously lined and my legs got so hot.

I was miserable! When I got home I could hardly get them off and my legs were wet… that was fun -not! I slept 10 hours on Thursday night. I went to bed at 9 and got up at 7. You could say I must have needed that sleep.

Friday morning I made corn casserole for round two at my mom’s house with my side of the family…

And took ingredients for this amazing salad, but I made the dressing at home.

Everyone loved it – even the kids. Our youngest kid isn’t that young anymore!

I made a Mexican layer dip for my brother in law (he loves it and has asked where it is at the last few family gatherings!) because we ate appetizers from about 1-2 and then ate around 3.

And, I made the pink meringue cookies for my niece because she asked!

It’s rare now when we are all in the family truckster so that was nice and it’s about an hour drive. Eddie Otis was an angel in the car both ways and he did so well with cousin Ezra (a dog). He was really good with all of my mom’s stuff, too. My mom has a lot of stuff he could get into. Like a lot of stuff.

Sitting around the appetizers chatting…

Have you seen the TJ Maxx/Homegoods trend going on? Someone pretends to be the employee and someone pretends to be the shopper and you ask for something super random. Well, we did it with my mom’s stuff…

My sisters and I and all the nieces made several videos!

Then, the kids wanted to wrap up some of my mom’s stuff and see if she would know it was hers:

It was pretty funny!

Good boy!

After a long and full day, we arrived back home and I watched this on Netflix and thought it was pretty cute. Also, I just bought a Paris ballcap from JCPenney online for like $5 so I felt validated when I saw Lindsay Lohan wearing hers in the movie.

I let myself run out of coffee and had nothing for Saturday morning! I went to Starbuck’s at 6:30 am and got myself a Christmas blend drip coffee and then fixed it to my liking at home and a London Fog for Mason because he had to work and I wanted to treat him. We are the only two drinkers of the hot beverages in our house!

On Saturday I did some annoying adulting things – I needed to get air in my tires and finish switching our phone plans to another carrier. Jack went with me to do his phone and then we hung out. Jack left to go hang out with friends and then it was just Tom and I and we watched football, I read and doozed, EO doozed, and we just had a lazy afternoon.

It had officially been one week since I had been to a restaurant so I wanted to go out to eat at a new to us Mexican place. This was my fit for the errands earlier in the day, too.

It was good and we brought home lots of leftovers.

I started this and I’m really enjoying it!

And, Saturday night it really snowed!

We woke up Sunday with about an inch or maybe a bit more. It was a wet snow and didn’t stick to the driveway, but stuck to the porch pretty well.

It’s so pretty! I guess if I can’t enjoy a mild Thanksgiving this year having snow to get me in the Christmas mood is pretty great!

That wasn’t a long enough break and now I am really looking forward to a two week break coming up! Maybe we will get a snow day before the break with how our weather is looking! Teachers love snow days!

Tell me one of your highlights!

Amy