Starting the Holiday Season Right

To start off the holiday season without too much stress, we decided to order most of our Thanksgiving dishes from our local grocery store. . . it was awesome. The turkey was so moist and the stuffing, gravy, and mashed potatoes were great too. Luckily, I had made my own yummy sweet potato casserole since the one purchased had much to be desired. Add some Rhodes rolls and homemade pies to the mix and voila . . .a delicious, non-stressful Thanksgiving! Hunter loved doing it this way as well, so he could spend the morning playing football in our ward's "Turkey Bowl" guilt free.



My parents drove down for Thanksgiving, which was so nice. They left their home at the crack of dawn in order to make it in time for our Thanksgiving dinner.
The rest of that weekend, we didn't do much as we all had colds. But it was my birthday, so my mom made a delicious Indian dinner and Hunter made a yummy 3-layer german chocolate cake to celebrate.

Once we got over the worst part of our colds, my mom and I hit the stores - it was time to do our holiday shopping. Once we got our shopping out of the way, we were able to go to the Discover Museum, Greece Imax Show, see the latest 007 movie, eat at Captain Steve's (greasy southern seafood), and just have fun together.

To start the Christmas season off on the right foot, we attended the "Walk to Bethlemen" at a local Methodist church. Kayla's favorite part was seeing the angels singing to baby Jesus. . . hence that is what she had to be in our Christmas Eve nativity story.

We also attended a local production of the Nutcracker. Kayla loved it!! She can't wait until "she is bigger and can dance in a show and have everyone clap for her." So cute.

Before my parents returned home, we decided to exchange our Christmas gifts. My parents are always so generous and my mom made some beautiful paintings for my kids. Little did I know how much Luke would like getting gifts. He loved opening his presents and wouldn't let anyone take them from him.