Thanksgiving Holidays

What did we do for Thanksgiving?  We missed Todd of course  :-(  We were all kinda bummed that he wasn't there with us.  What is a holiday with family members missing?

But we were brave and we made the best of it.  We smoked turkey in our very own smoker, not on the grill:

The dogs monitored it closely:

Despite their interest, they didn't manage to get it.  We were lucky enough to have smoked turkey; moist, tender and delicious - just like Steve's always is.  He is an awesome grill man!

Steph made home-made rolls just like the old school ones.  They were just as delicious as they were beautiful:

Punkin' and granny chopped veggies:

She helped a lot and was very careful with the knife:

When she was finished, she had all ten fingers left and not one scratch!  And who thinks a 7 year old cannot help?  Not granny!

She even set the Thanksgiving table, complete with a pocket for the silverware:

We had decorated the Christmas tree - there is a story to why we did it so early.  Steve's mom has asked us all to come to her place in western Oklahoma for Christmas.  Of course, punkin' wanted to be at home for the holiday, but she was really sad she was going to miss the Christmas decorations and not get to see them but a short time.  Granny talked with her and we agreed we would put up the decorations one month ahead of time so she gets one full month of her own house fully decorated.  So we did it and lit them 'officially' on Thanksgiving.  So here is a tiny taste of her tree:

Decorating the tree is always such a special time for Steve and I.  We reminisce about the special ornaments and this year was no exception.  We love seeing the new ornaments, the old ones and the really old ones, and we chat about where they came from: 

This one is from Todd's mom from when he was young.  I wonder who pR looks like?

Such fun to see his old ornaments - from when he was in school!   We have every ornament hung; his, Steph's, punkin's and the tractor ornaments are even on the tractor tree.  Talk about making for a LOT of ornaments!

We even took time to decorate the outside of punkin's house.  She was super excited and is officially in charge of turning the lights on - a job she takes quite seriously:

I even got a cool picture - check out the bokah on this one!

Finally, we took the girls to the lighting ceremonies of one of the nearby cities:

 

Then we all ganged up on Papa to play UNO!

I am honestly not even sure who won.  We had a great time though.  Love the new 'rules' incorporated in the game this time!  Talk about making everything fun - we were all laughing and we had NO idea who was going to win!

Finally, punkin' went home with papa so she could sleep on the sofa sleeper in the camper.  She was super tired, and the big girls were headed out to shop.  Yes, we shopped at midnight on Black Friday!

What did I buy?  I will tell you that tomorrow!  Lol...