Happy Holidays

Grandma got help from Sunny and me as she sewed pretty curtains for Nauntie's room. They turned out great - a huge upgrade from the pinned-up pillow cases we'd been using. Grandma also helped us make beautiful wreaths - she's very talented.

The Thanksgiving table is set! Nauntie was at her very best, orchestrating a delicious, festive meal...and cooking all day in her pjs. This year's menu included some of our favorites, like cumin-spiced pumpkin soup with pepitas, chorizo & cornbread stuffing, pumpkin-orange cake topped with mandarins and pomegranate seeds, Omi's cranberry sauce and...

...a hickory-smoked bourbon turkey! Thank you to Max and Grandpa for smoking and BBQing it, and thank you Uncle Dean for the awesome O branding iron you gave us last year - it works great!

Sunny was on cloud nine with so much family here to see her! We had so much fun with Omi & Papa, Grandma and Grandpa, and...

...the Kelleys, who joined us for dessert! Could life get better, Sunny?! She loves playing with Jodie and Corinne, and she follows Noah around asking him to play with her or hold her - and he always does. What sweet cousins.

We chose a new tradition - "going to the snow," as the Boreing always say, on Black Friday. Sunny was cozy in her snow gear - thank you, Wandlers, for her snow jacket! It still fits.

Sunny's ready to hit the sledding hill for the first time - I bet you can tell it's nap time by the look on her face. She wasn't fussy - just glazed over.

Grandpa and Grandma followed us to the mountain in their car, and Sunny waived and talked to them & Nauntie the whole way, since she faces backwards and could see all of them waving and dancing for her at every stoplight.

Us girls at the top of the sledding hill -Sunny enjoyed the rides down, but didn't make any noise or smile. She'd just look up at me and say, "More? More sledding?" when we reached the bottom.

Sunny sports her space-face in the lodge after sledding. We grabbed hot chocolates before driving down to find/cut our own Christmas trees. Kelly found us a great tree farm with a horse, goats, a HUGE rabbit, and more types of ducks than I ever knew existed.

Sunny loves our Christmas tree, but the Christmas lights are her favorite of the holidays. I plunked a wad of colored lights in a clear bowl in her room, which she thinks is the coolest decoration ever. You can see we have a mixed tree in celebration of our combined family - colored lights for Nauntie on top and white lights (a Max/JJ tradition) on the bottom. I'm pretty sure Sunny's with Nauntie on her lights preference.

Spotted by the fashion police - wow. Mama was in a hurry and left her half-changed.

Max made a huge O from PVC pipes for our roof in support and celebration of the Ducks - we're #1 in the country, and the Civil War game is Saturday. He's working on other Os for some customers.

We're festive!

Another new tradition: on December 1 Sunny helped me delivery Christmas swags (like wreaths, without the hoop) to our neighbors. She proclaimed "Happy Holidays!" perfectly to every closed door we approached, and then clamped shut during each delivery. Oh, well.