Tis the Season

A few 'new' normals from my family over the Thanksgiving week ...

We celebrated and offered thanks to God with our church family on Wednesday night.  Since Big Brother is almost 3.5 we invited him to participate if he felt up to it and he decided he wanted to come back into 'big church' for the sharing time.  We talked about what he would share and when the time came, he stuck up his little hand, Pastor Bob brought over the microphone and Big Brother let everyone know he is thankful for his puppy.  His puppy is 'the' stuffed animal he has to have at night.  My sister gave it to him when he was a wee-thing and it is still a cozy favorite.

Thanksgiving was different this year with my parents being in NJ.  However, this is a holiday I have not always spent with them, so it was okay and I am very thankful to have an in-law family only minutes away who we spent most of the day with ... my sister-in-law outdid herself preparing an absolutely delicious feast (thank you Food Network Magazine for inspiring her dishes!) and we shared the meal with 4 Chinese exchange students which reminded me of back in the day when Mom and Dad would often host 'extras' - International students from NYC, etc.  It was also incredibly gorgeous here in MN, so after we ate, Ross, Chad, me and all the kids walked over to my in-laws (a little over 2 miles?)  and we enjoyed playing in their front yard, eating pie and being together as a family.

We purchased our live Frasier Fir Christmas tree on Black Friday (that was really the only shopping we did) and we decorated it on Saturday.  It was fun to have Big Brother say 'wow' to just about every ornament we showed him.  Everything was 'wow' or 'that is beautiful'!  It was adorable and it was fun to see the decorations through his eyes.  This year the 'new' thing is turning the tree lights on and off, off and on - he really paid little attention to any of that last Christmas so we'll see how it goes.  Little Brother was present through it all - he fixed his eyes on the tree, starring at the pretty lights.  It definitely took quite awhile to get everything on the tree this year since my little helper was involved - in fact - I still have to finish the ribbon.  Having 2 kids is definitely different (and fun) when it comes to getting things done in a timely manner.  I'm trying to just take a deep breath and enjoy the process because I know this is the only Christmas Big Brother will be 3.5 and Little Brother will be 3 months old, so I'm reminding myself to just enjoy it and hug them a little tighter.