THANKSGIVING

4:36 PM



This is the best time of year! We spent Thanksgiving with Chance's family this year, at his Aunt Sally's.

Chance and I wanted to think of something we could bring to our Thanksgiving celebration with his family. I told him how when my Grandma was still here and we went to her place for Thanksgiving, she would have gingerbread houses for us to decorate at the end of the night. He liked the idea so we ran with it! Instead of buying kits, we wanted the challenge of making all the gingerbread ourselves, just like Grandma did. We found a recipe online (foodnetwork) and spent all morning making the gingerbread for 6 houses and cutting out the shapes (which was a trial and error... cutting the gingerbread shapes again right after they come out of the oven is the better way!), just hoping they would work out! At the end of the night we quickly made some frosting (we were rookies and put the frosting in the bag before we put the decorative tips in the bag... haha), put them in bags and had everyone start decorating. It turned into a contest with cash prizes! We think everyone really enjoyed decorating, competing, and even eating the gingerbread scraps, so we decided it was a success! As I watched everyone decorating their houses, I felt like I got a glimpse of the joy Grandma must have had when she saw everyone really enjoying the things that she had spent a lot of time and effort doing for us. I miss her everyday, but I'm so thankful for her influence in my life. Chance and I gave ourselves the crappiest of the houses, the one we tried to cut when it had cooled, and we were thinking it wasn't going to turn out well, but we love how it turned out! It's so cute! Gingerbread houses are such a charming decoration. And I'm so happy that it will even be good enough to eat when the holiday is over.



This one is ours! (Below)

We also made and brought a 7 layer dip for everyone to snack on before Thanksgiving dinner, just in case people started to get hungry before dinner was ready. Good thing we did, it got devoured! I tried to channel my "inner Aunt Dianne" when making the dip, because she always makes the best kind and always makes it look really pretty. I think I did a pretty good job! As a side note, we made it the night before and the avocados we bought were super hard and not ripe... but we tried to use them anyways. It wasn't really mashing well, but MOM TO THE RESCUE, she blended it up with a little bit of milk and saved the guac. Thank goodness for moms.



Dinner was delicious, of course, and my sweetest husband let me have one of his rolls since there was only enough for everyone to have 2, and that will never be enough for me! Hahaha, those are the kinds of people that are worth being thankful for ;)

I always miss spending holidays with my family, but I'm so happy and thankful that I married into a family that I also love spending time with!

As a side note, I really don't like Black Friday shopping... Haha I went a long time ago with my mom, midnight opening and everything, and I saw a side of humanity I never wanted to witness again! And this year we had to run to the store to get the frosting stuff, and people were crowded around stuff waiting for the Black Friday deals to be released. It was not nice haha. To each their own!

ALSO WE CAN'T FORGET! Chance and I had our 2nd annual Free Birds and Pizza night the Monday before Thanksgiving! Some people think I get too excited for Christmas and skip Thanksgiving (which I never skip Thanksgiving duh) but there just isn't Thanksgiving music and movies like there are Christmas. However, FREE BIRDS! It's totally a Thanksgiving movie and a really good one at that! So we started a tradition of watching Free Birds and making personal pizzas because the turkey's in the movie go back in time to make Thanksgiving meal pizza instead of Turkeys. Hahah seriously, so funny. I love that tradition!

Now it really is time for Christmas and I couldn't be more excited! This is the year of all Chance and my "lasts" before we add a family member! Got to make them count ;)




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2 comments

  1. So many things to say:

    1.) Your gingerbread houses are so cute! We were going to do the same thing this year. Any tips or frosting recipes?
    2.) You're totally right about Thanksgiving not having any movies or songs! Maybe we'll try your Free Birds thing next year! There's never anything to do lol.
    3.) TOTES RIGHT ABOUT BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING! I hate it because I feel like it tears families apart! Like people are leaving Thanksgiving dinner to go stand in a stupid line for some freaking electronic ugh. Or!! There are the employees who have to work there and they have to miss Thanksgiving dinner :(. I think they should prep on Wednesday, be closed all day Thursday, and open at 8:00 on Black Friday.

    ANYWAY. Super excited to see your lil' nug! You guys are going to be such cool parents. And your kid is going to have #goalz baby pictures haha.

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    Replies
    1. 1.) Thank you!! It was so fun. We used the gingerbread and frosting recipe from here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gingerbread-house-recipe.html
      Tips for gingerbread: It says to cut out the shapes, leave them as they are, then bake them, then cut them again. When you take them out to cut them again do it like right when they come out of the oven before they have time to cool. So much easier.

      2.) Haha yes, I LOVE Thanksgiving, I really do, but I can't get into it like I can Christmas because there's no music or movies. However, for reals, Free Birds. It's one of my favorite movies now!

      3.) BOO on Black Friday!! Haha I know some families have been doing it forever so it's like their thing, but it will never be my thing! I also feel bad for employees who have to work as well!

      Haha you're the best Emmy!

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