thanksgiving break: unkie brandon's visit & christmas decorating

 another thanksgiving is in the books. it's crazy to think that last year at this time we thought by the holiday season 2021 covid would be a thing of the past (well, mostly), but here we are a year later and covid is still raging on. sighhhhh. thatcher and i have appointments to get a booster shot soon and the kids will be fully vaccinated in a matter of weeks, so those are the bright spots. what a time to be alive!

ashford and azalea had the entire week off last week for conferences and the holiday. it stayed dry for the first half of the week at least. on monday the kids and i went to discovery park with vanessa and ewan in the morning. ashford had a hair cut in the afternoon in northgate and then it was time to drive to the airport to pick up my brother. northgate is north of us, (so farther from the airport than where we live). it ended up taking an hour and 15 mins to get there with traffic. oy! but it was all worth it to get to have unkie for a few days :) we went back to our house and had carnitas tacos that had been cooking in the crock pot all day. yum. then we watched a movie.

we didn't have much planned for my brother's visit, it's nice to just kinda take it easy over the holiday and he's been to seattle so many times now that we don't feel like we have to do the touristy stuff anymore.

 the kids played with sisi and thelonious for most of tuesday. my brother helped chaperone ;) my kids wanted mcdonald's for lunch, so brandon and i got gyro sandwiches for ourselves. we hung out at the school playground and at our house. i made spaghetti for dinner and we watched another movie. 

wednesday ashford had a playdate scheduled with his friend arlo, so azalea, brandon and i did a little birthday/christmas shopping for ashford. my brother and i went to the gym in the the afternoon. we picked up mod pizzas for dinner (i wanted a cooking break before thanksgiving) and watched yet another movie. what else is there to do when it's dark at 4pm every day? ;) 

thursday was thanksgiving! we made a big breakfast in the morning and watched (most of) the macy's parade. 

 

i was in and out of the kitchen all day prepping our meal. we cooked a 5 lb turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, green beans, blueberry muffins, and cranberry sauce. i bought a pumpkin pie ;) everything turned out great!

 we watched football, colored turkey pictures, and watched yet another movie after dinner. 

 friday morning i had to get up dark and early to take my brother to the airport. it was a short and sweet visit, but we are so happy he could come spend the holiday with us. we will hopefully see him again in february when the kids and i go to florida. when i got home, it was time to deck the halls! i wait all year for this day. i think i love thanksgiving weekend more than christmas itself. christmas is fun, but the very beginning of the season where everything is new and exciting is even better. my family knows by now that i'm a little nuts on black friday. i mean, all day the christmas music was playing, i wore holiday clothes and pajamas, watched two christmas movies, and ate and drank everything off of christmas dishes. i don't hold back :) 

 

 

saturday morning azalea and i ran some errands in ballard, including a stop to get a wreath for our front door. thatcher baked us two kinds of cookies. in the afternoon i started addressing my holiday cards while watching a christmas movie. we were planning to make dinner that night, but at 5:30pm thatcher said "you know what sounds good? a burger and fries" so we made that happen instead. :) it perfectly sums up a good holiday weekend. after dinner we watched our 4th harry potter movie of the week. 

sunday was another loungy day. thatcher went to brunch with a friend visiting from minneapolis. the kids made chocolate pudding.

 

 i watched another christmas movie and worked on my holiday cards some more. 

it was such a nice week off. i truly enjoy these breaks more the older the kids get. probably because they will actually sleep in an extra 45-60 mins now and i know the days of them spending the majority of their time at home with us will end in the next few years. now they have 3 weeks of school before another 2 weeks off for christmas and new years. bring it on!