Thanksgiving and our Christmas Tree

I know I am so behind on this thing. I don't know how people find the time to do everything!!

But I wanted to say what a great Thanksgiving we had. Anthony flew into Fort Stewart on Wednesday night and Vernon went and picked him up. It was a 9 hour round trip and they drove all night, but it was a wonderful Thanksgiving having Anthony home for the first time in 9 months. We are sooooo thankful he is based in Georgia. (and we love Savannah!) We had lots to be thankful for this year.

Vernon took a short nap Thursday night and then we went shopping for Black Friday. We got some great deals and finished up ALL our shopping. I love this time of year. Everything about Christmas makes my heart flutter! We were going to make Anthony go shopping with us, but he went to sleep at 4 pm (he ended up sleeping 18 hours!) and didn't wake up with all the commotion going on all evening! My dad actually kept the kids, because my mom had to work. This is a miracle in itself!

My poor husband was exhausted! We both took naps then Anthony brought the kids home. Vernon stayed asleep while the kids and I did some baking. Then my awesome husband went to work a side job. We always put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but didn't get to this year. I absolutely wont do it without everyone there, so we waited until Saturday. I didn't make a big deal about it, because I knew how tired Vernon was with driving all night one night (after working 9 hours) and then only getting a few hours sleep before shopping with me the next night. Did I mention how awesome he is?

We spent all morning and early afternoon pulling out all the Christmas decorations. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!! We have a small tree that we cover with ornaments that all have meaning. I love pulling each one out and telling the kids about it. We have ones that were gifts, given to the kids each year by us, bought for a special memory and of course ones the kids made over the years. A few years back, I decided to start collecting ornaments whenever we go somewhere out of town or just about anywhere that sales "souvenirs." We have ornaments from state parks we have camped at, cities we have been too and places we have visited such as Pigeon Forge, Fort Mountain State Park, Savannah, Stone Mountain and Baby Land General. We keep the ones collected for the year in the curio cabinet and talk about each one and where we got it as we add it to the tree. It is such a great way to reminisce about the year.

I did figure out that we have way too many for our little tree and we need a bigger one. Maybe we can find one on clearance after Christmas this year!

Vernon left for work around 4. He was mediating over a play the school was hosting, so he took Janessa with him. All the boys and I decided to brave the weather and head to Ashley Park for the lighting of the Christmas Tree. What a special night! We saw two reindeer, sang Christmas carrolls, drank apple cidar, ate dinner at Five Guys (awesome burgers!), saw Santa and witnessed the lighting of the tree!

After church tomorrow I have to drive Anthony back to Fort Stewart. I guess I need to go to bed! We have had such a great weekend with him home and we are really going to miss him. He is hoping to be able to visit quite a bit on weekends and have a week off at Christmas. We can't wait. But because of this, this goodbye is not going to be quite as hard as the rest have been.......