Tis the Season! (Warning: long post to follow!)

I love this time of year and especially all the traditions! Thanksgiving comes bright and early with Steve and the kids usually heading out by 7 to Turkey Bowl! After the football festivities Steve gets busy making cheesecakes then digs into the Christmas lights! Hard to believe we're packing away the Thanksgiving decorations before we even eat our turkey dinner! This year we spent the afternoon at Steve's brother John's house. We are very grateful for the homecoming of baby Xavier (John and Darlene's grandson) who spent the first 6 weeks of his life in the hospital. Thankfully he was able to come home just in time for Thanksgiving. After a fun-filled afternoon with the Collins clan, we headed up to Pinewood to enjoy the Forsberg family and the cold weather at the cabin! We stayed up late looking at ads and making a plan for early morning shopping with Keith and Stephanie. We got to bed by 1 am and were up by 4 to head into "town". The four of us divided and conquered and got all that we wanted despite the crowds and the cold! After breakfast, Sean and Jessica and two of Sean's siblings met us at the cabin and we headed off to the forest in Flagstaff in search of a Christmas tree. Cousin Reeslyn was able to join us this year and she and Caitlyn had a great time exploring and playing with Carter and the other boys. After scoping out many trees, we finally found The One. It literally took us all afternoon to find the perfect tree. It felt like we hiked many miles in the forest that day!!! Steve and Cameron cut it down and everyone was relieved and excited! We made it back to the cabin for a nice dinner. And although everyone was tired....we were able to play a rousing game of 9 to 1 with Nana and Granddad, Aunt Amy and the rest of the family. Saturday we made it back into town to recover some "lost" purchases then headed back to Pinewood for a promised trip to the park with the kids. While we were at the park it snowed so the kids were all pretty excited to play in the snow! We had a great Thanksgiving weekeend and are excited about the holiday season that is now at hand! (pictures of tree to come!)