Our Thanksgiving and life lately, November 2022

It's that time of year when life feels extra full, with plans and preparation, not to mention the seemingly inevitable bouts of fall sickness. I just realized that it's been two weeks since my last post, and that I did want to share about our recent weeks and Thanksgiving before we enter into full-on Christmasy things.

We spent Thanksgiving with my father- and sister-in-law this year. They cooked the turkey and made mashed potatoes and the best sourdough dinner rolls. My contributions mostly flopped (ha!) with a far-too-tart cranberry sauce, a pumpkin pie with a leaky crust (the pie filling mostly ended up under the crust), and baked carrots that were finally cooked enough to be edible an hour after we finished eating. I also made stuffing using a loaf of sourdough bread I accidentally forgot to add the salt, and thankfully that (the stuffing, not the original bread) turned out.

Despite my kitchen mishaps, Thanksgiving lunch was delicious. We played a round of euchre while juggling the boys, and Katelyn made us lattes to have with dessert (sourdough cinnamon rolls and my not-ideal pie). Cooper played with matchbox cars and made us laugh with the sweet little funny things he says and Finn crawled around with big smiles. It was a sweet day.

In the weeks leading up to and surrounding Thanksgiving, we've been sick, but thankfully we all were feeling better in time for the holiday. Beyond that, I've been decorating the house for Christmas, going on family walks, playing in the first "bigger" snowfall, knitting on cozy projects, watching Finn take in the world around him with the mobility that crawling lends, wearing matching pajamas with Finn, and walking around our downtown, looking at lights and people watching at the ice rink.

There have been lots of snuggles and book-reading, Christmas-music listening (a lot of Charlie Brown Christmas over here) fort-building, zucchini bread-eating, fika-enjoying, handknit sweater-wearing, gift shopping (even a little gift wrapping, to my surprise), and Christmas movie watching.

Nicholas took the week of Thanksgiving off, so once we were all feeling better we had a lot of family time together.

Decor-wise, I'm pleased with how I've decorated this year. My goal is always to add a little bit of cheer to every room without adding lots of clutter, and I think we managed it this year. I used lots of faux red berries, some greenery, and little Sandinavian touches. We opted for no ornaments on the tree for now, but we added a new star tree topper that I really like. And of course, we put up Cooper's mini tree in his room that he decorated all by himself this year. Cooper "helped" my SIL, Katelyn, decorate their house a few weeks ago, and apparently, as they were getting the bins of Christmas decor out, he said, "This is so exciting!" That little boy loves Christmas.

And I too love this time of year: beyond the cheeriness, to the everlasting significance of the arrival of Christ. I want to be mindful not to fill my brain with lists and to-do's that I miss the wonder and the true anticipation and the thrill of hope that makes a weary world rejoice.