Thanksgiving & Kickin' Off the Season

Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Holidays! Well, we've hit the big season, evidenced by the amount of time I had to stand in line outside GameStop Friday morning, freezing my little toes off. I was not as well-prepared as some of the shoppers were, with their camp chairs, blankets, and thermoses of hot-chocolate/coffee. But, despite the hardships, it was mission accomplished. Whew! Just one of the things I was willing to put up with, living in shopping Siberia, like I do. And I was NOT going to pay an extra $200 to buy the dumb thing on eBay. Period. Isn't Christmas fun?! Let's feel the love and peace of the season, already!

Okay, let's catch up on the past week. Man, what's up with me and blogging lately? Remember the days when I used to blog four or five times a day? I don't know, I'm in some kind of fog, but let's catch up before I digress onto my foggy brain. Thanksgiving was fun. We had a great trip down, really, but I was glad when we got there. Can't wait until Connor is older. We might be able to handle a road trip that lasts for more than three hours. We'll see. And Little Summer Guest is going to make that even more interesting. Hhmmm... Here are a few pic highlights from Thanksgiving:

Zen's sister, Mickie, had two little baby chickens boxed off in a corner in her livingroom, I assume so they wouldn't freeze in the cold. Anyway Connor just loved the baby chickens, and only knocked their boxy pen over three times, I think.

Dani also loved cuddling the baby chickens. Never fear, I was ready with my little bottle of Germ-X hand sanitizer. I don't know, maybe it was a "summer guest" thing, but I was having a case of the heebie-jeebies about chicken germs.

All the Allred clan, chowing down.

Connor's favorite thing was "punkin" pie.

We also got started on our holiday decorating. Most of us are kind of humbug (I'm reluctant, because I know most of it will be destroyed by the daycare kids if I put it out). Just a tree would be fine. But Dani dragged us all kicking & screaming this weekend to at least get the Christmas tree set up. A few hightlights:

Dani & Connor

Hey, these two actually cooperated on something!

I'm sure there will be more pictures of the tree, we're taking it in slow stages (don't ask), but it will get done eventually. Oh, I also put up my wood nativity sets. They were a curiosity the first day back with daycare, but I'm not too worried. Little kids are why I only collect wood nativity sets, for the time being. Speaking of catching up, here are a few pics from the morning after our first real snow:

Enjoying the school holiday, Dani "led the troops" that morning, urging everyone outside to play in the snow.

Dani introduced Connor to the concept of the snowball fight. I think he liked it, little imp.

Freezing, but having fun!