Thanksgiving is the Hubs' favorite holiday, so I don't overlook it by going "all out Christmas" before turkey day. Here are some of my faves that are on or around Thanksgiving--and yes, I will kinda get Christmasy here. ;)
Baking
I know for a lot of people, the holiday baking and cooking is an added stress. Many of my friends have someone else cook their holiday meals for them, and I don't blame them one bit. However, I LOVE cooking for the holidays. I love making pies of all kinds for our family gatherings. I love making Christmas cookies with my kiddos. I love making casseroles and dressing for Thanksgiving. I love it all. And I do it for days leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. And yes, I wear my Christmas apron while cooking.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
My all time favorite thing to do on Thanksgiving Day is watch the parade while the turkey roasts in the oven. The smell of the cooking turkey plus the festivity of the parade just really puts me in the holiday mood. And now that I have kiddos of my own, I just love watching their expressions when some of their favorites like Buzz Lightyear or Gru and the Minions from Despicable Me show up along the parade route. It is my routine every year for turkey day, and I don't expect this year to be an exception.
The Hunger Games Movies
I know, I know. These movies don't have anything to do with Thanksgiving or the holidays, but this is the third year in a row that the newest movie has come out the weekend before Thanksgiving. Last year the Hubs and I went on opening night for a little date night, and the movie did not disappoint. (Confession: I have watched Catching Fire three times in the past couple of weeks just to build my already frantic excitement about this newest movie! I fully realize that I should probably seek treatment or need some sort of intervention.) Some women love the Twilight books and movies, some swooned over Magic Mike, some are waiting with baited breath for the Fifty Shades of Gray movie, but The Hunger Games are my jam. I can't wait. Don't judge me. (I realize that I am in the vast minority of women who have not seen any of the aforementioned movies and don't plan to--I guess I have been too busy reading about Katniss and Peeta. lol)
Black Friday Shopping
Yep, I do it. With my parents. Every year. Have ever since I was a child. It's something I actually really look forward to. We operate on a pretty strict budget, so being able to get nice gifts for my family for a great price...it makes me happy. The Hubs had never joined me in my Black Friday shopping until last year when he went with me to Toys R Us to get in line an hour before they opened the doors on Thanksgiving Day. And I am pretty sure he would be loathe to actually admit that it wasn't bad and he kind of had a good time. Because we only get our children five gifts each for Christmas, I was done with my Santa shopping in one trip. SCORE! You can read about our gift giving guidelines here.
Bethlehem Breakfast
This is our Elf of the Shelf alternative, and I love it. If you want the long explanation, you can read my post about it here. But basically, Mary and Joseph move throughout our house until Christmas morning when they arrive at the stable and Baby Jesus is in the manger. My kids love waking up and looking around until they can find where Mary and Joseph have traveled to during the night. Last year, Mary and Joseph's big arrival was marked with what I called a Bethlehem Breakfast. I have Bethlehem Breakfast 2.0 planned for the Saturday after Thanksgiving . . . I guess I had better get to work on that.
So there you have it--my Thanksgiving faves. I would love to hear some of your Thanksgiving faves as well.
And be sure to link up your own Friday Favorites with Andrea at Momfessionals.
Can't wait to see Mockingjay!! We are on vacation this week so I won't be able to catch it until we get home -- makes ending the vacation and getting home a lot sweeter than normal.
ReplyDeletePenny @ pennyspassion.blogspot.com