So apparently this turkey cheese ball is going to be an annual tradition. Which is fine because honestly I think it’s super cute and is the easiest thing to make. Half the fun of having children is having someone to get excited with about silly things like this. I honestly might have skipped it this year, but the children insisted it happen. And they eat it! Which can’t be said for much of Thanksgiving food, so I was happy to have it. They’ll probably be making it themselves by next year.
As is my favorite, we had a low key and low stress Thanksgiving. As much as we can with 3 littles anyway. The larger extended family had a ‘real’ Thanksgiving in Vermont, but there was no way we could make that. It’s too far to do a round trip in one day, and no one has a house big enough to sleep our chaos. So we stayed here, with some reinforcements. Since the kids were off for 5 days in a row, my sister came down to help us survive.
And I do mean survive. We’ve hit that perfect set of ages where no one is quite independent yet, everyone is very chaotic and needy, and they all like to fight, demand one on one time, and destroy the house. It’s funny that this time last year was actually easier, even with a brand new baby. I know it’s temporary, and I don’t mind that this point in life is so crazy except that I feel so tired and run down. It makes me less patient and I snap more than I like.
But leaning into that, we just went with it. We made the dishes we wanted for Thanksgiving, ate so much pie, and skipped the big turkey altogether. We made the best turkey/stuffing/cranberry meatloaf. We had Thanksgiving crafts and a fun tablecloth, and yes I totally did buy everyone turkey hats. Not sorry about that either! (Next annual tradition??)
Another big part of the day we were able to do since we weren’t driving anywhere, was watch the Macy’s parade! I’m not sure this parade gets enough credit - it’s so much fun! When I say every person in this house had fun watching it, I mean it. Of course we might have had more fun watching F though. She was jumping up and down and clapping, or sometimes she’d stare silently with her mouth completely open and then suddenly she’d point and start babbling like crazy. I’ve never seen her more excited about anything. It was definitely a holiday highlight.
We also managed to do our thankful turkey again. Both Tom and I eventually made it on, but that was after every single daycare friend, a few different buildings, and every month of the year. It was nice to see the siblings all made it on too. So they do like each other some times!
And now full force, on to Christmas. Some things we’re doing well with (8 trees up and decorated!!) and other things we feel behind on (no matching PJ picture yet), but we’ll get there. We did manage to watch The Polar Express, though, which was an unexpected hit! I’m pretty sure it will be on repeat all month.
Gobble Gobble