Thanksgiving Events 2012

Thanksgiving is always a big deal here. You can see previous years here:
Thanksgiving 2010
Thanksgiving 2011
We have a lot to be thankful for.

Some of my family spends the night at our house on Thanksgiving Eve. We start the prep for the next day, get a kitchen plan together, visit, nosh, talk and laugh. The last few years, we've made a little tradition of going to see the latest Twilight Saga movie. This year, Breaking Dawn 2 was the final installment. Our group has changed over the years and this year, we were definitely missing my niece, Mara who is currently serving a mission for our church in Germany! We made a sign with her name on it and took pictures "with her" in the theater. My nephew's girlfriend was also spending Thanksgiving with us for the first time and she was so helpful and fit right in. It was such a good time! Cheesy I know, but I really want to see it again!

I pre made a French Toast Bake the night before and got it in the oven by 6a so that we could eat early because now on Thanksgiving morning, we play softball. We head to a local park and just play ball. Everyone is invited and we all play, young, old and in between. Although those of us older than 10 are all sore today...

When we got back to the house, we set out the nosh. Yummy things that we'd eat up all day! We had Brie En Croute with apricots, Cheese (smoked gouda, beecher's flagship, extra sharp cabot cheddar, several kinds of goat cheese), water crackers, smoked salmon, nuts (pistachios, cashews, and almonds), veggies, onion dip (with greek yogurt), hummus nom nom nom nom...

We had a 22lb brined turkey from Trader Joes that we lathered in chunky garlic butter and herbs de provence. We bustled around the kitchen and between all of the helping hands, managed a yummy dinner for 17.

Roasted Turkey, Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Whipped Nutmeg Yams with Marshmallows, Cornbread Stuffing, Cheesy Onions, Cranberry Sauce, Corn, Corn Bake, Green Bean Casserole, Rolls and plenty of cider to go around! There were also 11 pies. No lie. Kudos to Breeze who rocks making the Pumpkin Pies! She let the kids help too and they loved it.

 

It was so yummy and being surrounded by people who we love and who love us was the best part. Some we see often and some not as much as we'd like. The table is always open and the feeling at the end of the night is a good one.

I could list the things that I'm grateful for here, again, but I truly give thanks for these things everyday.

Saturday is a special day.

There's a primary song that goes:

Saturday is a special day

It's the day we get ready for Sunday

We clean our house and we shop at the store

So we won't have to work until Monday.

We brush our clothes and we shine our shoes

And we call it our get-the-work-done day.

We trim our nails and we shampoo our hair,

So we can be ready for Sunday.

I remember singing it growing up and always wondering what it meant to "brush your clothes"... haha

As you may know, our church is super big on service. No one gets paid. On a recent Saturday we got an opportunity as a family to help clean our ward building (our meeting house). Families take turns participating and my kids especially LOVE to do it... I only wish they loved cleaning our house as much!

Mosiah 2:17 "And behold I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom. That ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the the service of your God".

Service is where it's at. Be rad, be kind, serve others. It will make for a good life.

Visiting with our Brandow Ohana

 We were lucky to have our Ohana visiting from Northern Nevada at the beginning of Summer. We enjoyed having a good times backyard get together in our new place. Uncles, Aunties, Cousins, multi generations, local, and from afar... it was awesome.

JT got to play with cuzzos Kian and Mateo. Those rascals were up til 2am and then outside playing in the backyard from a 8am the next day til 8pm! They were tired and filthy by the end of the day but it was awesome to have these little boys so entertained just by the backyard. Never mind all the unripe honey tangerines and cherry tomatoes were used as bullets and that there was a game of ultimate dodgeball taking place with a volleyball, some foam balls, whiffle balls, foot ball, and tennis balls (ouch!)

Grownups chatted around the tables inside and out, played cribbage and talked story. It was like the old days, when I was little and kids would only come inside to see what they could grab as a snack. Where anyone older than you was your auntie or uncle. Where everyone remembers to throw away their own trash, Uncles give you quarters for your pocket, you eat what's there and then eat some more.

Being surrounded by our family we felt so blessed to be a part of something so amazing. It was great to have a house full of awesome people and all that love.

Choosing Right

We were so happy to attend the baptism of our nephew D Lane last Sunday!
We visited their ward (church service) today so Mr B could participate in D's confirmation.
HeaBug said very loudly, "D you are so brave!". Yay for congregations with a sense of humor.

Congratulations D, we love you!

All the days of Christmas

Notes from Santa... 

Christmas is always magical for us B's. We enjoy the whole season, get our decorations up as quickly as possible and celebrate everyday.
Over the past few years, we've slowly moved our kids and ourselves away from the shamefully now normal excitement of "getting, gimme, more" and encouraged feelings of "I have enough, what can we give?". It's hard to instill in kids especially when all around them there are examples of excess. We work hard at it though, molding kind, generous, contributing citizens of the world.
This year, we counted down our excitement to Christmas day with a family activity advent calendar. Each morning, the kids opened up the activity for the day. Some were silly (make "snowman soup" aka hot chocolate with marshmallows), some to teach lessons (pick out a brand new toy that you'd really like for yourself, then donate it to the children's hospital), some to make sure we did traditional things of the season (hang mistletoe and sing I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus).
It was an inspired activity and we started off strong. As the month wore on though, our commitment list grew longer and longer. With so many birthdays and parties and holidays in December, by the 13th I felt like a crazy person trying to add yet one more thing to do every day.
Then Mr. B brought it all back home for me after I was stressing completing 3 days worth of activities in one night... He said that it was a great idea and that we were having fun when we did things that were a part of the advent calendar. We were also having fun doing all the other things populating our schedules that weren't on the calendar. Stressing about it was taking away the joy of it. So right then and there, I re-embraced the relaxed, chill, qué sera sera attitude that we had agreed would see us though the season, heck, through life.

Ms. Hea Bug

Don't mind his grumpy face... It's hard to sit by your stuff and not open it cuz mom is taking a picture. lol.

Stuff happens. Things come up. When you're surrounded by people that you live and adore though, it doesn't seem to matter so much. I know what I have and what is important. We didn't accomplish every activity but we did a whole lot of them, together.

We enjoyed Christmas close to home setting out a ginormous cookie for Mr. C. JT wrote an awesome letter offering up Mr. B's Red Bulls and Diet Cokes if he wasn't satisfied with milk. We bid farewell to our Elf on the Shelf, Blue Berry Angus. We woke to french toast casserole and a morning of "one at a time gift opening". The kids were so excited with their treasures. We made the rounds visiting our family and enjoyed a delicious day. We were so happy to spend yet another amazing Christmas in each other's company. This marks 13 that Mr. B and I have spent together... way back since '99. Love him, love my kids, love all the this holiday stands for.

Wishing your family a very Merry Christmas too... Love, Us B's