Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Wednesday was Grandparent's day at Matt's school. Matt was so proud that Meema and Grandpa got to see his classroom and meet his teacher (they were especially amused to see that on the bulletin board where all the kids listed what they were thankful for, Matt put "Roast Beef" - and added "My parents and my sister" as an aside). After the tour of his class, we all went over to the Church for the Grandparent's liturgy. Each class prepared a song or a prayer in honor of their grandparents. It was a really nice service. The nursery and pre-K kids recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Matt knows this by heart and is happy to recite it to a small audience, but when he got up there with his class I think he felt a bit overwhelmed. Even from our seat in the balcony you could see the look of horror on Matt's face. And when everyone applauded after, he covered his ears. But I guess we can be thankful that he didn't run screaming from the altar. LOL! But he and his classmates were so adorable and Miss P did a great job.

Mark's parents came over for dinner yesterday. We made a huge dinner, with all my favorite turkey-day comfort foods (which I definitely needed because I was feeling a bit down in the dumps, but we won't go there), and everything came out perfectly and on time. We had a moment of panic when I realized that we almost forgot the cranberry sauce, but Mark got it onto the table in time and all was right with the world.

I am a huge family person. I love having my family - my whole family - around, especially around the holidays. And I'm also a sap around this time of year. I love tradition and being surrounded by those I love... But there! I said I wasn't going there. So I'll shut up now.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. We had a crazy busy morning cooking and cleaning and watching the kids enjoy the Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV, and then a very relaxing afternoon with Mark's parents and later on, Michelle and Paul and kiddos. I made hot chocolate for the kids and put on The Polar Express for them while the adults watched football downstairs. I hope that the kids look back on these traditions and holidays with the same kind of warm fuzzies that I get when I think about idyllic holiday memories.

We put up the tree today. The kids are really starting to "get" the Christmas Spirit. I love it. We listened to Christmas music and set up the Rudolph train and watched the kids with their eyes shining, exclaim over each and every ornament we placed on the tree.

Tomorrow we take a ride on the Polar Express! I can't wait... Matt had a great time with it last year, and this year we decided to take Jill along too. The kids get dressed in their Christmas PJ's and take a train ride to the "North Pole" and drink hot chocolate and eat cookies while singing Christmas carols and listening to a story.

And then... on Wednesday my Mother-in-law, sister-in-law Michelle (Mark's sister) and I leave for DISNEY WORLD for the Very Merry Christmas Party!! This is something I've always wanted to do (see Disney decorated for Christmas) and I cannot wait!! I've been checking the weather forecast every five minutes (or so it seems) and so far it looks like perfect weather - sunny and in the 70's. Yipee!!