Thanksgiving and Christmas Decorating!!

This year Thanksgiving consisted of my three younger sisters, my dad, my grandpa, and my uncle and his girlfriend. Hannah and Samantha made all of the pies. I made our cranberry surprise and homemade yeast rolls, recipe via my wonderful friend Nat. Then my dad made the mashed potatoes. While us girls finished up the green bean casserole and sweet potatoes. My grandpa brought stuffing and the turkey, and my uncle brought more sweet potatoes and stuffing. We wound up having way to much food. We made five pies anticipating my older sisters and their kids to come over some time during the break. Unfortunately every one's schedules were to busy for us to get together.

I have the most wonderful in-laws that worked around my cooking/eating schedule at my dad's house. The night before Thanksgiving John's younger sister and I helped his mom make the pumpkin pies, which were made with real pumpkin. My mother-in-law is a domestic goddess and cooked down pumpkin mush as I called it (just the inside of a pumpkin). This in turn was our pumpkin flavor. IT WAS AMAZING!!! That was my first experience with a real pumpkin pie, no canned filling.

John and I had to eat twice in one day, and go back and forth to help cook. It was a challenge, but I think we handled it really well. John's family was so gracious and accommodating to my other schedule that everything worked out perfectly. Nothing to exciting happened except eating and cooking. My sisters and John played alot of Halo Reach and watched him play the new Fable game for the xbox360.

John was such a good sport and helped out alot. Even though we kept pushing him out of the kitchen, he was very attentive and always asking if he could do anything to help. He kept an eye on the rolls for me so they wouldn't burn, while I worked on other things. All in all it was a wonderful quiet Thanksgiving.

Great Pic of John answering a phone call while watching the rolls. He has two oven mitts on and was trying to block out all the noise with one and hold his phone in the other.

After two yummy meals.

I am a firm believer in not decorating until December 1st at least. I really hate that stores start putting out Christmas stuff after Halloween. It bugs me because they are like hey forget about Thanksgiving and just start buying stuff for presents. Thanksgiving is an important holiday. It's one to remember why your grateful and how blessed you are. I don't want to be distracted from that by discounted sales and great deals and become another blind consumer. I don't mind people who put up their Christmas trees after Thanksgiving, but at least wait until you have eaten. I don't put ours up until it's December, that way I can remember what November should be about. Plus November is my mother's birthday and my sister Rebekah's birthday. My mother always said that Santa appreciated patience from good little girls and that he wanted us to remember what Thanksgiving was about.

So today was DECEMBER 1ST!!! So I excitedly asked John all day when we could put up our Christmas tree. I'm so excited for Christmas this year because John and I are making many of our presents. Not all of them will be home made but we are trying to give everyone at least one home made item. I can't divulge to much because it's driving my sister-in-law Kara crazy to not know what I'm making her 6 mo old daughter for Christmas. I love Christmas because growing up it was all about family and the miracle of the birth of Christ. My mother has a beautiful porcelain nativity set that we put out every year, and it's honestly one of my most favorite decorations. I've been hinting to John for awhile that I really like the Willow Tree nativity scene, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Sadly we didn't get a real tree this year. Growing up we NEVER had fake trees and neither did John, but we had this little tree that I got last year when we lived with at my dad's in his basement. Our room wasn't big enough for a real tree so I surprised John one day last December with a little pre-lit fake tree to make it more cozy. Our first Christmas together we did have a real tree, but not so this year. Yes I did have to hold back tears when John said well lets just use the small fake tree since we won't even really be in Norman after finals. I grudgingly agreed and up went our cozy little tree.

I love decorating Christmas trees. My mom loved cluttered trees with all of our home made ornaments and special ornaments she had collected over the years. We used to always make Christmas chains out of red and green construction paper to decorate around the ceiling and arches in the living room. I did keep with tradition this year and got everyone Christmas PJ's when they were on sale at old navy. John and Hannah have polar bears. Sam has reindeer. Bek has Christmas trees. I have snowflakes and my dad said ah I won't wear them I always just wear scrubs to bed.

I told John that when we grow up and have our dream house (whenever that may come to pass) that I needed a formal living room and then a family room. He asked why, and I replied so we can have TWO Christmas trees. So we could have a fancy formal one in the front and the chunky covered to death in home made decorations one in the family room where we would actually open presents. I love the smell and freshness that a real Christmas tree brings to a home. One year my dad actually bought a live tree that we planted after Christmas. It's cool because now its his backyard and every year we look at that tree we remember that long ago Christmas.

John's family has a really cool tradition that we incorporated into our Christmas traditions. Every year everyone in the family gets a new Christmas ornament before they get the tree. This year our ornament is a piece we picked up when we visited Rome. It's just really cool because you can see the difference in personalities on John's parents trees. Once the kid moves out they get to take their ornaments with them. So our little tree is covered in clunky and beautiful ornaments carried along through out John's childhood.

When I decorate a Christmas tree I try to break up the colors so you have to actually look at everything, and you  don't just look at a focal point. And yes I even decorate the back of the tree that no one can see. I got that habit from helping and watching my mother decorate our tree when I was growing up. She used to say don't you think the back will be sad if he or she doesn't get to dress up all fancy like the front. This was always followed by laughs and giggles by myself and my sisters because my mom was insistent on not hurting the back side of the tree's feelings.

Our stockings! Our real ones are at my dad's so we bought cheap ones and put a Little Gingerbread Woman and Gingerbread Man on the stockings

Our little decorated Christmas tree

The tree in comparison to John

We always use an angel as a Christmas topper.

The story behind why I always put an Angel on the Top is very sweet. I don't know whether or not it is a true story, but it is one my mother always told us growing up. I have not been able to find any documentation to verify this story, but even if it didn't really happen it's a good story.

My mother was born in Germany on and Army base. She did not live in the US until she was four and she spoke very little English. Her nanny was German and so she learned German and English at the same time, but heard German more often because of her nanny. So this story may have come from said nanny.

The story: In a small German village there was a sculptor that had a young daughter that he loved very much. She was a beautiful little girl with bright blue eyes and long dark blond ringlets. She would play and draw while her father sculpted pieces that people paid him to make. His daughter was always a happy child, and loved to play outdoors when the weather was fair. During World War II the sculptor's shop was bombed and everything was destroyed. His precious little girl died in the accident. The sculptor was so sad that he couldn't sculpt for a very long time. You see his daughter had been his inspiration. One night he had a dream of his daughter laughing a playing in Heaven. She turned and looked at him, and said Daddy don't cry I am happy in heaven. God gave me wings and made me one of his angels. I want you to be happy. I miss you but we will see each other again. After the man awoke from this dream all he could picture was his daughter's cherubic face looking down on him. He started sculpting her face over and over until it was as close to a perfect replica his hands could make. Once he made the face, he sculpted a body with wings. He then added his daughter's face to the Angel, and set it in the window so she could always watch over him. A woman walking by saw this beautiful Angel in the window and rushed into the story asking the man how much he would sell it for. He said he could not sell the angel because it was inspired by is deceased daughter. He told the woman I could never put a price on that face, but I can make another if you truly wish to have one. The woman said she couldn't let him create something so beautiful with out compensating him. He refused any payment and said it was his Christmas gift to the woman. She finally agreed since he said it would be a gift. When she picked up the finished piece the sculptor had hollowed out the inside and left a sheer material for the clothes so the woman could put a candle near the Angel and it would shimmer and shine. The woman showed her beautiful new Angel to all her friends who all decided they must have a copy of this breathtaking Angel. The sculptor would not accept any money for his sculptures, but gave them all away as gifts. When people asked why he wouldn't take any money he would look in the window at his first Angel and say my little Angel wouldn't accept money for her beauty so why should I. That year when he placed his Christmas tree in his shop he put his little Angel on the top so she could see all the decorations and look down on him. When the women and men who bought his little Angels saw his tree they followed suit.

And to this day that is why I use an Angel  as a tree topper. I know the star is traditional, as the guiding light to the shepherds, but the Angel that guided the shepherds and told them of Christ's coming is equally important. I like to think of my Angel now as my mother's gift to me. She will always be there to watch us and look out for us. It may not be a real story, but it's real to me because that is why my mom put an Angel on our tree every year. I have continued the tradition as well as my sisters. Hopefully we can pass it on to our children. I love the holidays and I'm so excited for all of our home made gifts this year!!