Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

Well, there isn't much else to say about this weekend except for INCREDIBLE!!!! These past four days have been full of friends, family, yummy food, and lots of relaxation. It's always been great going to Michigan for Thanksgiving, but this was certainly a nice change of pace...to stay home for Thanksgiving and play host to Hubby's parents as they came to Missouri this year.

Thursday was obviously the big day as 35ish people headed to my parent's house and gathered together as family & friends. Hubby's parents joined us and I felt so incredibly blessed & lucky to have them there.

My dad, my mother-in-law, & my grandpa getting everything ready for the table. I had the pleasure of helping my mom & dad out quite a bit with the preparation which was definitely a fun but busy time!

With our family, we traditionally always have some sort of craft for the ladies to enjoy while the men lounge on the couch watching some football. It's ranged from wreaths to button trees to claypot angels, but it's always something and always a good time!

This year my mom took inspiration from the latest Food Network magazine and made gingerbread men & women for us to decorate. She had all sorts of candy and some royal icing for us to get creative with....and did we ever!

Our inspiration...let's just say the magazine artists are much neater, but they don't hold a candle to our fun!

Me with Mr. & Mrs. Gingerbread

My entire gingerbread family

The group of ladies who hung around until the end with our gingerbread people

A closeup of the gingerbread people...we had lots of creativity flowing!

It was such a fabulous Thanksgiving day, and truly made me so grateful for all the blessings in my life. I came home and crashed & was very glad that I wasn't one of the crazy shoppers headed out early Friday morning.

Friday was the designated "Deck the Halls" day. Hubby brought in all of my Christmas storage boxes and I unloaded and decorated while Hubby finished up the lights outside.

It literally looked like a Christmas store exploded on my kitchen island! More on the decorating later this week...

Friday night was movie night with Hubby's parents & his sister, her husband, and our two nephews--chili for dinner & Toy Story 3 with some homemade popcorn. It was a fabulous evening complete with a family photo shoot!

Hubby & his nephews who think the world of Uncle Nicky!

Hunter & I--I love this kid!

Me & my nephews, Hunter & Jackson

All of us, I think the first official family photo with all 8 of us...plus Mr. Monkey & Santa

And of course we had to have a goofy shot...seriously, what am I doing? I love Jackson's face in this photo; I seriously think he might have been terrified!

And another goofy shot...love this family & so blessed to be a part of them!

Movie night was a huge success...I think we'll definitely have to plan more of those in the future!

Hubby & I spent the rest of the weekend lounging around & seriously just taking some time for ourselves. We decorated our tree, did some Christmas shopping~and also a new pair of riding boots for myself, and went to the movies to watch Morning Glory (I definitely recommend for a light-hearted comedy). Today we relaxed some more, like we needed to lounge anymore!

Of course tomorrow it's back to business for another work week...but I think I can be ready after this fabulous four-day weekend!