Happy Thanksgiving! What a busy Holiday weekend. Allison came home on Weds. She finished her mid terms and did very well. She had extra time so she worked on her upcoming class projects and is 2 weeks ahead of schedule! So she had a nice, relaxing weekend to catch up on video games with Scott. Plus she was able to help out around the house. Including taking Cookie for a daily walk.

I got all the Thanksgiving dinner shopping done over the previous weekend. I also picked up some Birthday gifts for Scott for his upcoming 18th Birthday. Tom does all of his shopping online. I tried to get my hair done on Sunday, but the place was packed. Instead I dropped in on Tuesday evening. Just in time for our upcoming family photo. I wanted to join Allison at the hair salon last Friday, but I had to work.

One of Scott's Birthday presents included his new car. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for the repairs on his Jeep Renegade. It passed inspection and they were able to fix the check engine problem with a replacement of the exhaust manifold. But now we are waiting on some electronic parts that were causing the buzzing sound in the speaker. And they are not in stock. Sounds like it may have a whole new engine by the time they are done! Surprisingly it passed the state inspection and we are also waiting on the license plates.

We ended up celebrating Scott's birthday on Sunday night. He wanted Mexican for his Birthday dinner, so we passed on taking Grandma out with us(not her favorite food). We were also out all day getting our family Christmas photo. I have signed us up for our family photo at the Target studio for the past 21 years. They always do a wonderful job and it is very quick and easy to order our photos right after the photo shoot(although it is usually very crowded at the holidays and we have to wait longer than our scheduled time). But they suddenly closed all their studios! I was so sad. Instead the website directed me to JCPenny. We have gone to Penny's before for a family photo when we first got Cookie. We wanted her in our Christmas photo 8 years ago and there was only one Penny's studio in Annapolis that you could bring your dog to on one night of the week. We did not need Cookie this time, but I signed us up for a photo shoot on Sunday morning anyway. We still had to wait about 30 mins. But the photo shoot turned out well anyways. I just thought it was funny(or a bit flattering) when the photographer told Tom and I to lay down on the floor! I told her that was the kids job! If I lay down on the floor, there is no going back! Instead we sat on a low footstool and the kids were able to lie down in front of us. Turns out that photo worked the best! Afterwards we usually sit down with a representative to try some different photo combinations for Christmas cards and family photos. I don't think Penny's was ready for the influx of customers. They left us alone with the computer. Allison and I ended up making our own Christmas cards and photos! I think we did a great job! And our photos were the same price that I paid at Target, and will be done in the same amount of time. So overall, a fun experience. Guess we will be going back for Scott's graduation photos! And maybe more Allison graduation photos!

Afterwards we had lunch and did some Christmas shopping in the mall. Do you know how hard it is to shop for Christmas gifts for the family when all of the family is with you! So everyone knows about some of their gifts, but it was a lot of fun to shop for presents in a mall together. And the kids were most impressed to see Tom shopping in a mall at Christmas time no less!

On Thanksgiving Day we were all busy together cooking and cleaning. Tom put our 20lb turkey on the rotissierrie on the grill outside. Scott and Allison got up early with me to make Loaded Baked Potatoes, stuffing and crab dip. I had already bought Pumpkin pie and a Pumpkin cheesecake for Allison. We had my Mom and our friend John over for dinner around 4pm. I tried to invite other friends over for dinner, however everyone seemed to have invited someone else over for dinner. No matter. We all enjoyed our dinner together and a few football games. In the morning we caught up on our Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the National Dog Show in between cooking. We passed on the Turkey Trot since we were all busy cooking. Instead the kids took Cookie for a very long walk around the lake in our local park-about 3 miles or a 5K. It was such a beautiful day out for a walk. In the evening, I got my Mom started on her Christmas cards. We should be done by the 25th!

Actually the whole weekend was beautiful. So much so that we spent most of the weekend outside putting away all the Thanksgiving/Fall decorations and putting up Christmas decorations, including our outdoor lights. Tom even bought a new extension ladder for the event, however, he decided it was too heavy and he returned it. After he got the lights up of course! The kids were a great help putting the Fall decorations up in the attic and bringing down a few snowmen. I spent the entire weekend doing my usual activity-raking leaves!  I did manage to get out and do some Black Friday in store shopping!  That was alot of fun. Plus I got some online shopping done too! I especially wanted to get our St Nick's Day shopping done since that arrives on Dec 6th. That is when we exchange Christmas stockings!

I am still surprised how much sooner the Christmas decorations are popping up. We had decorations up around the neighborhood and stores before Halloween!  And some of he Christmas lights went on before the end of October. I just want to get through Thanksgiving before worrying about Christmas!

On Friday morning the kids and I were busy with a trip to the Festival of Christmas Trees fundraiser for the Children's Hospital. My Girl Scout choir was singing on stage-the first act of the morning. I had to be there at 9:30 but I was running a bit late. I took Allison and Scott along to enjoy the decorations. They patiently waited for our group to sing for 1 hr, and then we went off to look at all the trees and gingerbread houses. The place was packed. After several hours of listening to Christmas music and looking at Christmas decorations, we were so done with Christmas! And once again, hard to Christmas shop for someone when they are with you! Guess the kids will know which gifts they are getting this year. And again I wanted to take my mom but we had to be there so early in the morning. And it was incredibly crowded. Instead we brought Scott for his first time.I think he enjoyed the experience and hanging out with his big sister!