From Thanksgiving, a birthday, Christmas, to New Years

 SO MUCH has gone on since mid November.

First we had Thanksgiving.  There were 11 of us.  And this year we did two turkeys.  One I did traditionally in the oven and the other my husband fried.  It was a nice, relaxing day.  I love Thanksgiving.  It's just a relaxed holiday with zero expectations.

The power went out the day before Thanksgiving but I was still able to get prep done with my handy dandy headlight lamp

The main table.  We also had a kids table in the kitchen.

The oven baked turkey.

Next up was my 50th birthday.  I'd rather not even discuss turning 50, but it did happen.  My husbands company Christmas party was at our house on my birthday weekend, so my husband planned the celebration for the following week.  I requested NO PARTY and I put my mom in charge of making sure that no party happened.  She did a great job because of course my husband wanted to do a party.  But instead he planned a night at a local glass works where we made Christmas ornaments and then went to dinner.  It was a fun night with just our family of 5, my parents, and my mother in law.

Me getting some instruction on working with glass.

Next up is Christmas.  It was a wonderful day spent with family.  The boys loved all their gifts and I love watching them open them.  It's 6 months worth of effort over in 45 minutes.  But I wouldn't have it any other way.

This years tree.

A gift from his big brother.

The aftermath.

And lastly New Years Eve.  It was another quiet night with just the 5 of us to start with and then just 4 of us because the 17 year old went to a friends house.  We usually do fondue, but we decided to have homemade chicken wings and French fries.  I bought everything for the fondue, but we were too full for it so maybe we'll use it this weekend instead.  After food, we decided to watch The Swiss Family Robinson on Disney+.  3 of the 4 of us made it to midnight.  The 7 year old went down at 11 pm.

Some of the wings.

I love homemade fries

The fondue pots were on standby.  Maybe we'll use them this weekend instead.

I can't believe the holidays are over.  It just goes by so fast.  But it was good and I couldn't ask for anything more.  Now on to the new year.  I'm hoping to get this house more organized in the new year.  I'm joining The Bowl Full of Lemons 2020 Home Organization Challenge.  I follow her on Instagram and I find her so inspirational.  I may or may not update my organizing here.  So stay tuned for future updates on how that's going and also what our family is doing in 2020.  Lots of major happenings this year!