Thanksgiving Weekend

I had a great Thanksgiving weekend with the family. Everyone was healthy enough to visit and I felt mostly good enough to stay up late playing cards and other games. (If you like Balderdash, I recommend Things, which is hilarious if you play with the right group of people.) We bought our meal pre-made from the grocery store and ate off paper plates, but it all worked out. The food was good and the turkey was very moist. My mom still did the bulk of the work, from preparing pies to heating up the food, even though she has chemotherapy-induced neuropathy in her hands and feet. J, my brothers, sis-in-law, and brother's girlfriend were all really helpful in getting things setup and cleaned up.

The kids were cute and had fun being in front of a whole crowd of people. Oatmeal has become quite the little show off - to the point where her need for attention is a little disconcerting. At one point, she decided she was on TV and went on to entertain the whole room with her songs and dances. She also has started to pose when we take her picture. My SIL decided she must have got this from watching a few snippets of Dancing with the Stars because they don't know where else she would have learned to suck up to the camera.

 

All three of them are really into playing dress up. They have some clothes at home and the twins are able to play with clothes at pre-school, so I decided to go to Goodwill and buy some dresses to keep at my house. I bought seven different dresses in big enough sizes that they are able to wear them over their clothes. I also bought a bunch of plastic beads and some plastic play shoes at Target. Almost every time I entered the living room, they were each wearing something different. Sometimes they wore the dresses and sometimes they wore the beads and shoes with their pajamas. They tell me they would like me to find cheerleading outfits. I really don't think that's going to happen.

They also like to play house with each other, with Oatmeal always playing the mom and being referred to as "Oatmeal Mama". I decided to play along and pretended I was a kid who didn't like anything. Oatmeal was beside herself because I whined and cried all the time. At one point, I was only willing to eat a peanut butter sandwich. I was told, "you must take a no-thank-you bite" when offered spaghetti and "fits don't work" when I whined that I didn't like the shoes I was given. I guess some of her parents' lessons are rubbing off.

We also took them to the Macy's holiday show, A Day in the Life of an Elf, which was a big hit. The line was short and it wasn't too crowded. They saw Santa and told him what they wanted for Christmas and promised to be good. They heard that my Dad once received coal in his stocking so they were sufficiently worried about their behavior when they talked to him. ReeRee wants a cash register. I'm not sure if they have one at pre-school or what, but she really wants one.

One of our Thanksgiving traditions is to go to Como Zoo on Thanksgiving morning. We take a picture on the turtle and are able to see the changes in the family each year. Weirdly, this year it was covered up when we arrived. We asked to remove the box and a nice park worker helped us take pictures and helped us to return the box when we were finished.

 

Hopefully, I'll feel well enough at Christmas to travel to my brother's house. I don't want to miss seeing the kids when they realize that Santa has visited.

Comments

[Shan]

Those photos are so sweet! Love the dress-up. Also, I'm going to start using the line "Fits don't work" on Genevieve. Sigh. Happy Holidays! So glad you could enjoy the kick-off!