Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was so different for us in the most wonderful ways. Of course we missed our families and seeing our baby cousins (S/O to my sis for sending pics and videos of the nuggets - that made our day!) but we had such a fun, relaxing day with friends!

The time we would have spent rushing around to 3 different houses, we spent planted on the couch watching football and holding precious little Gia. The hours we would have been stuffed in a car, we spent cooking and baking and midnight shopping! I have no complaints. Also, spending the holiday away from family only heightens the excitement of seeing them for 3 uninterrupted weeks over Christmas! :)

We also found some new favorite recipes - I kid you not, Andrew made the best mashed potatoes in the history of mashers. And not to pump my own tires, but my pies were un. real. This should go without saying, but... of all the things I had to be Thankful for this year, Pioneer Woman just about topped my list! Thank you Jesus for her Thanksgiving recipes. Namely, these ones: Mashers, Pie Crusts, Apple Pie, Pecan Pie.

The big old bird

Tony carving his first Thanksgiving turkey

Sweetest little baby bean

Turkey Day gang! Did I mention the theme was tacky Christmas sweaters?? Well, it was.

Nom nom nom

Ugly Christmas sweaters (theme of the day) are apparently pretty hard to come by. Did you know there are actually websites devoted to Ugly Christmas sweaters? And they rob you! $30+ for a used, fugly sweater??? No thanks. At the Goodwills in the city - pickins were slim. And I'm married to a germaphobe... so I ended up making Andrew's hideous vest. Complete with a light-up component, per his request.

Mine came from a local thrift store. It was  bedazzled, so I was a little nervous about tossing it in the washer... but I'll be damned if I was going to wear that thing without washing it first! Well, my $4 sweater almost turned into a $400 sweater... I thought I ruined our dryer. There was black fuzz everywhere. The inside of our white dryer was literally black and I spent an hour trying to clean it out. I continued to shed black fuzz all over the place for the rest of the day - on couches, on Andrew, on sinks, and {husb's favorite} on my own face in the shape of a beard. Needless to say, this heinous garment landed in the trash by late evening.

So, those were the highlights of our first Thanksgiving sans family. Babies, baked goods, and ugly Christmas sweaters. All in all, the day was a success! Here are a few other random pics of our Turkey Day for your viewing pleasure... hope you are recovering nicely from the day's hustle and bustle (and food coma)!

Remember these from my Friday Favorites?

Pumpkin Pie and homemade whipped cream

Waiting in line at Target. Insanity...

EVERYbody was thankful for this baby girl!

Christmas Cards

Its that time of year again...

The minute the turkey is cleared from the table and I come out of my food coma, I go into full speed Christmas mode! This year I braved the crazy midnight Black Friday shopping rush {never again} and after 2 hours of that madness I made myself a vow to finish the rest of my holiday shopping online. Thank God for Cyber Monday!

This is also the time of year I try to organize my thoughts and ideas for our Christmas cards! Its always tricky - in my opinion - to find a mix between cute and classic. Especially when we don't have kids or some big long brag letter to include with our cards. But thankfully there are wonderful websites like Tiny Prints that let me customize a card to fit our needs. My goal: a pretty card with a simple greeting and a recent photo for Nana to display on her fridge. I usually opt for a single photo, flat card. Its a simple, fun way to wish our friends and family a happy holiday from our little family without being too over the top.

When we first got married, I chose a more classic card and included a wedding photo. Last year, I picked something a little more contemporary and used a photo of us with our kitty girl. This year, I want to choose something a little more relaxed. A little more fun. Something not so red-and-green-and-Christmasy. Here are some Tiny Prints designs I've got my eye on...

Click for Design

Click for Design

Click for Design

Click for Design

Each of these designs jumped out at me as being unique and different enough to stand out from the dozens of other Christmas cards people will be opening over the course of the next month or so. As if narrowing the card design down wasn't hard enough with so many cute and creative options -- now I've got to narrow down the picture(s) we'll use!

Here is my best Christmas card ordering tip for newly(ish)weds: limit the input you get from hubbs. My usual game plan:

Narrow the card designs down to 3. 

Narrow the photos you want to use down to 4. 

"Personalize" each card design with your photo and names... 

and then and only then show the {limited} options to your husband! 

Works like a charm. And if you pair the best picture of him with your favorite design, he'll be more likely to go with the card of your choice! Magic, I tell you.

Have you picked your holiday cards yet? If not, head on over to Tiny Prints!

Pies

What I'm learning today about pies...

Making the crusts? Not so hard.
Making the fillings? Seriously easy.
Making them PRETTY?

.....seriously SO stinkin hard! Ugh. The crusts look awesome before they bake. Then somewhere along the way, they collapse into a lopsided mess!

Here's to hoping they taste better than they look. At least there will be no denying that these suckers are homemade ;) thanks Sheila for pointing out that the "special" crusts make my pies "endearing" and "charming" haha.

2 down (Pecan and Pumpkin!), 1 to go (Apple)!

Crust on its way into the oven...

...Crust on its way out. Womp womp.

Thankful

"Last Thanksgiving my pastor said that gratitude reduces stress and other weeds in our minds and hearts. It's a weed killer inside the heart. If your heart is full of gratitude, then no room exists for despair, anxiety or hatred... A thankful heart is fertile ground for stability of soul, without the weedy emotional traumas of life."

- Edna Ellison -

I read this passage in my Bible study book last week and was blown away by the perfect timing of that chapter. Its so easy to dwell on the stress in our lives. To focus on the busyness of school and work and family responsibilities. 

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And its so easy to forget all the things you really are thankful for when there are still so many things you're wanting to have... and to do... and to work toward.

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Thanksgiving only technically comes around once a year. But I'm hoping to work on being thankful all year long. And showing it more, too. Because really... there is just so much to be thankful for!

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Amid the hectic preparation that this wonderful holiday brings with it - the shopping, the cooking, the hosting, the cleaning, the visitors, the entertaining - I'm going to do my best to focus on the blessings in my life and to really truly be thankful. Deep down in my little heart. For all of it.

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I hope your week is filled with gratitude. 

And your Thanksgiving table is surrounded by love!

...And of course, really really good food :)

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