Thanksgiving and Christmas Prep

We headed back to Knoxville to be with the Marets for Thanksgiving. Thank you to them for hosting us, not just for the day, but for 2 nights and 3 days. :-) We had a lovely time.

As you can see there were puppies everywhere again. Last time there were 4 grown dogs and 1 puppy, now there were (including Chinook) 4 grown dogs and 5 puppies! Oh the joy that ensued. These poor puppies were subject to much dramatic play these few days! All were given names and positions in their 'family' and personalities and everything. The kids had a ball with them.
This little Black puppy, the only black one in a litter of 5 puppies was a favorite to all. Here he is being played with, or possibly tortured by Aiden. Rides in the wheelbarrow fun for some, downright frightening for others. :-)
Cute Aiden! Don't cha just want to squeeze him?!? MWAAA, it must be that curly hair!
And the spread, for all the piggilies. MMMM. 2 smoked turkeys. Smoked by Heathers dad. Yummo. A giant Ham, potatoes, cornbread casserole (which I tried my hand at a few weeks later and failed miserably), sweet potatoes, green beans (southern style), and deserts galore! Oh what a feast, and what fabulous company. I know this is a stinky picture of Don and Alex, but it's the best pic of the spread of food. YUM! Um, did I tell you guys thanks for that? yeah, thank you. :-)
This is a little piece of heaven for me! I LOVE DOGS! I LOVE puppies even more! Here I am, sitting in a chair w/ 6 dogs! Yeah me!! I was So content under this pile of K9's I can't even tell you. I swear if I never met Brent I would be the crazy dog lady down the street. :-)

That night Don and I went to the "day after thanksgiving sale" at Walmart. We left the house at about 2 am, arrived at undisclosed secretly quieter (LOL, not really) Walmart at 3 am. Stood in line for 3 hours to purchase a lap top for $198!!! We had a good time! We chatted it up pretty good, and played a little name that tune on my i pod. I taught Don how to play Yatzee (who doesn't know how to play yatzee??? Seriously!) and all in all had fun hanging out with perfect strangers all around us. It was crazy to witness how many lunatics go out to these events. Seriously psycho behavior! We spent the rest of the day light recovering from our all nighter and then headed out with the families to CiCi's pizza, and then to the tree lighting event in Knoxville.
Don and Heather, waiting for the tree to light up.
Katie and Aiden wishing we could see SOMETHING from where we were standing. They had a little show with dancers and santa, but we couldn't see anything.
Aiden and Don. He is SO dang cute. Aiden that is. :-)
Katie and Daddy. Katie and Aiden are the only two that really saw anything. it was kind of crumby that way, but we saw the tree and witnessed the fireworks. (I never knew that a tree lighting involved fire works) It does in Tennessee I guess.
Tori, Liza and Rachel waiting too. :-)

After the lighting we raced over and TOTALLY lucked out w/ a free carriage ride. They were offering free carriage rides and we happened to be at the end of the line, when they flipped the line around (hehe) and made us the front. LOL! It was fun. Because of lack of space and my lens on my camera, there's no pics of kids on the ride, but I took this cool one out the side of the carriage ride. :-) I LIKE it. :-)
And THEN, as if we hadn't done enough. We went back to Marets where Aunt Heather hosted a turkey cupcake making project. DANG cute eh? They loved making them, and were proud of their work.
working hard, and eating harder.
We had a lovely time. And took some time to reflect and be grateful for all we have. We are so incredibly blessed, it was great to sit surrounded by friends and family and reflect upon the year and be grateful for it. (even if Don SOLD HIS BIKE! and didn't take me for one last ride)

Happy Thanksgiving.