Dinner

Dinner after the parade was at Applebee's.  Where waiting for our food have us time to warm up.  It's been a long day for most of us and yet the smiles were still pkentiful. They even managed to make it thru a couple of stops at target and walmart. 

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Holiday lights parade

Most Years the day after Thanksgiving finds us putting up the Christmas tree and decorations. Later in the afternoon we usually head to new ulm to take in the newest Disney movie followed up with their annual holiday light parade.  This year we watched The Good Dinosaur and then walked a block from the theater to watch the parade, the temp was a balmy 23 degrees at parade time.  The highlight is the last parade float which of course has Santa Claus on it.  

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Breakfast with Johnny

 
Johnny's arrival is eagerly discussed in the weeks and days leading up to Thanksgiving.  "Do you think he will come back this year?" one wonders.  "Will he bring us breakfast?" another asks.
There are the cautions and reminders
 remember we can't touch Johnny or he loses his magic
no telling if you find him first
Johnny the elf joined our family 7 years ago.  Those first couple of years he was met with some skepticism by some members.  Rosie spent one Christmas season watching Johnny almost as much as he watched her.  She was not a fan of the whole report back to Santa part of the story.  The older kids who came home to visit were just as vocal I heard often "Mom, not going to lie that elf freaks me out."  Those early skeptics were silenced by the members of the family who loved searching for the elf each morning and seeing what mischief he had made over night.
Last night Grace and Anthony  helped me set the table for breakfast with Johnny.  Not so long ago they were the ones eagerly awaiting the arrival of Johnny, but now that they are "older" they find it's fun to help set up for the surprise for the younger kids.  I love how even tho they are older they still keep the magic alive for the ones younger than them.
In a short bit of time we had the table set ready for Breakfast with Johnny....

 
cereal and jingle bells for each child

 
every year Johnny brings a new book

 
and a Christmas movie

 
messages and pictures are left on the door for Johnny's arrival

 
the breakfast crew at the 7am hour.  Two of those little wonders were awake at 5:39 am this morning

 

frozen grapes sent from Mrs. Claus

 

she was bouncing in her sleep she was so excited for Johnny to arrive this morning

 

Looking forward to the antics this little elf brings to our home this year...

Traditions

 
It was her year to put the angel on top of the tree.  Something she has reminded me of often in the past few weeks.  She remembers this tradition and looks forward to her turn somewhat patiently.  It won't be long and she won't need a boost to reach the top of the tree from her older brother she will be able to reach up and place it with ease. I have watched several children grow thru the placement of the angel from a lift in the arms of their parent or older sibling to a chair to being able to reach up and place it with ease.   We keep track of which child put the angel on the tree, on the flap of the Christmas tree box.  It is a peek into the past, when there were three names listed for years, and it shows how our family has grown as new names were added into the list.  It is a tradition started when we moved into our first home in 1989, over 26 years ago and eagerly embraced by these younger members of our family as it was by their older siblings, a connection across the years that they share.

Pre Black Friday shopping

Grace was determined to go black Friday shopping, sadly no adult in her world was willing to go.  Thursday night when I announced I was going to shopko she raced to get ready so excited to experience shopping after Thanksgiving.  Our big find of the trip.... lawn chairs for 5.99.Reyna finished her Christmas shopping. (we had only drawn names a few hours earlier)  No sense waiting when you know what you wanted to buy. She will be the one done Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving in future years.  It was an experience for those younger kids to be shopping so late in the evening and it was fun to watch their excitement. 

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Decorating for Christmas

 
my helpers, who were more interested in playing in the newly fallen snow, the mild temps made putting those outdoor decorations up much more pleasant. 

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Thanksgiving 2015

 
Thanksgiving morning...Yahaira has this selfie thing figured out

 
My Dad and my Sister's family joined us for Thanksgiving dinner.

 
most of the grandkids

 
my girls

 
dinner, laughter, family and amazing food

 
little kids table

 

pictionary!

Preparing for Thanksgiving

 
We started with a stop at Friesens Bakery & Bistro in Mankato to pick up some gluten free desserts for Yahaira.  She was thrilled they had gluten free pumpkin pie.

 

 
she is my girly girl, she dressed for dinner and curled her hair and insisted on making snicker salad for our meal. 

 
homemade cranberry sauce with persimmons, first time making cranberry sauce and first time trying persimmons

 
her only request was for pecan pie...last year we waited to long and couldn't find a pecan pie anywhere in town, this year we planned ahead...she was thrilled.

  
Rosie spent Wednesday afternoon with Carolyn, they made turkey cupcakes, Rosie was so excited to share them with everyone on Thanksgiving.

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1st snowfall

 

our first snowfall of the season started on Friday, the kids stood by the window for the longest time simply watching the snowfall...It was quite peaceful inside and out for a bit as that snow fell softly to the ground.

 

later Friday night when we arrived back into town I passed a parking lot with several snow covered cars, so Reyna and I stopped to add some faces to those cars, a simply surprise for anther to find.  Reyna wasn't as excited about this little random act of happiness, she kept watching for cars or people and informed me several times that we could get arrested.  As we were pulling away she said "Mom, it wasn't on my list to get arrested tonight" (ok, honey let's hope that is never on your list) 

 

I reluctantly watch winter arrive each year.  But when the sun comes out on a newly snow covered landscape and everything sparkles and shines I can almost, almost see the beauty that is this season.

 

She spent most of the afternoon outside, unaware of the cold or wet gloves.  At one point she came in to show me her snowman...his name is Mr. Freezy she said. 

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