For the second year in a row we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with all our kids (and this year our granddaughter, too!) in a whirlwind 48 hours. It works out best, at least right now, for our boys to go to their in-laws over Christmas, and so we do Thanksgiving and Christmas in one fell swoop in order to get to do it together.
The kids starting trickling in on Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, everyone had arrived. We managed to build a fire and cook s’mores at our rented house in the country while Ivy slept. Fun time with the adult children. Then we began to prepare for our Thanksgiving feast!
This year, we stayed in a house near my sister and my parents, allowing us all to spend Thanksgiving day with my extended family—and some of their extended family! Besides my sister and her family and my brother and his family, each of them also brought some in-laws. And not just parents! My brother-in-law’s sister and two of her boys were there, and my nephew’s mother-in-law also joined in! All in all, we had 28 people for dinner. Everyone pitched in so that along with the turkeys my nephew fried (my first time to eat a fried turkey. It was amazing!) we had lots of side dishes and desserts. And after all our worrying, we had just the right amount of food.
When we returned with our kids to our rented house that night, we set the presents under our “tree.” I only brought the stockings last year, but this year I couldn’t stand not to have some sort of a tree for Ivy’s first Christmas. And this one was perfect! I hung it with command velcro strips, and all the ornaments velcro on the tree. I hope Ivy (and other grands!) will love it in years to come.
Friday morning, we woke up to Christmas music, filled stockings, and presents to open. Ivy did really well with it all. She loved her new toys and books. We ate breakfast tacos and hung out in our pjs most of the day.
And then our happy little family began going their separate ways. One son and daughter-in-law had to leave Friday afternoon. Ivy and her parents were gone by mid-morning on Saturday. Jeff and I and our daughter spent time Saturday with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law. By Sunday morning, everyone was home or on the road home.
It went way too fast, especially with the big family get together taking most of one of our two full days, but it was good to be all together. To assuage my mama heart, we’ll be making the rounds to spend time with each of our kids and their families over the next few weeks, to enjoy time with them one-on-one, which we love. But we also love those collective memories we make, even if they whizz by in a blur of hours.
What was your favorite part of Thanksgiving 2019?
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Ivy is precious! I’m so glad you were all able to be together and have such a great time!
My favorite part of the Thanksgiving week was that I didn’t have to work and could work on Christmas cards, cook in preparation for the Thanksgiving meal, read, and relax.
The weekend before Thanksgiving, two girlfriends and I met in a quaint, small nearby town and had a mini retreat just enjoying seeing one another again and relaxing.
It’s always nice when you can prepare for Thanksgiving at less than a frantic pace! And how fun to have a mini retreat with your friends, too! 🙂
Ivy is such a cutie! I’ve never seen baby knees-highs. How fun! And I love your felt and Velcro tree! What a great idea.
My husband grew up with “The Great Turkey” which was a play on the old Charlie Brown story of The Great Pumpkin. The Great Turkey brings gifts at Thanksgiving for family members who won’t be together at Christmas. We’ve done that several times. It saves money on shipping gifts and makes the togetherness fun. In recent years, however, we’ve had a hard time being proactive enough to get the gifts purchased early. Sigh. I’ll be shipping gifts again this year. Ha!
I love the “great turkey” idea! That is awesome!!! We might have to employ that at some point, too. Yes, getting shopping done early takes some planning, but then it makes my December a whole lot easier!
So glad you were able to celebrate with so many family members. Family is what it’s all about. Your granddaughter is adorable! Enjoy – they grow so quickly.
They do! I hate that I don’t get to see her more often, especially in this first year when so much happens in just a matter of weeks!
Have electricity for the entire holiday! We had two huge snowstorms that had some people without power for up to six days! Ours flickered but never went off. Thankful that we had a warm house for our daughter and family to come to – it was 45 degrees in their house on Thanksgiving morning!! God is good!!
Oh wow! Electricity and warmth are definitely things to be thankful for! And family to share it with! Glad y’all had a refuge of light and heat! 🙂
Well I won’t say that its my favorite park, the turkey we were given was bad even though frozen. So we did a non traditional day since family didn’t really get together and it was me and the kids at our new apt. Thankful just to have a place to call home!
Linda Marie Finn
I’m sorry your turkey wasn’t good! That’s a bummer! 🙁 But yes, always thankful for a place to call home and kids around.
I think that’s a great way to do it! It’s so nice that you’ve found a way to gather your whole family in celebration. 🙂
Thanks! So far it works for us. I know seasons of life change so we’re just trying to change with them! 🙂