What a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving Weekend we had. It was filled with family, friends, food as well as old and new traditions!!
By the end of writing this post, I will be exhausted but it will be so worth it! :)
Thanksgiving Eve
Diana and I started our day with meeting Cass and her girls at Mary Ann's for breakfast. The kids didn't have school so it was the perfect chance for the girls to catch up! Wish I had snapped a pic but I forgot!
After breakfast, my friend and fellow Cheer Coach Coleen decided at the last minute to start a new tradition for the kids and that is a "Friendsgiving" Brunch. Even though I knew we wouldn't eat after breakfast, I thought it was an awesome idea and Diana had a ball with the kids. The bonus was that the moms had just as much fun! Coleen is a jack of all trades- we always joke about how much she accomplishes in a day- takes care of her family, runs her own business, can fix anything around the house and is amazing cook! She made pancakes and eggs for the kids AND THEN homemade bagels which the moms enjoyed. It was a wonderful new tradition and we are excited to partake every year!
Action Shot- Making the Bagels!
Mamas Toasting The New Tradition
and the kids!
After Friendsgiving, it was time to get home and prep for our first annual Thanksgiving Eve celebration at home! Rob's band agreed to play and I think we have created a new and fun tradition.
We enjoyed the band all night and had so much fun with family and friends. The kids all had a blast running around too. We did apps and cocktails and agreed that we would love to do this every year!
My girls loved listening to the band warm up. Eva danced her little heart out for two straight hours!
Check out this clip from warm ups
and then she sang a quick one ;)
In the kitchen.....
Tracey, Greer and Heath
Laurel's parents Keith and Sherri with her hubby Tom
Cass, Gordon, Steve and Laurel
Lea, Brenda, Me, Beth Ann and Coleen
The awesome wine that Greer brought- we took a picture so we could all buy it!
Aaron and Marshall- such lovely gentlemen
Coleen and Lea being silly so I would send the pic to Lisa M so she would get there faster ;)
Coleen, Dave, Lisa M., Lea and Shawn
and then it was time for Shawn to hop in with the band and do "Glory Days" for us- it was awesome!!
Check it out!
and the fans...
My beautiful parents
The Groupies- Dave, Mike and Pauline
Papa Bob
Marshall
The First Loves- Cole and Diana
and the girls got in on the band action...check it out!
and the band ended the night with a Mannequin Challenge...well almost the entire band...Eric was a little confused ;)
Thanksgiving Day
Our Thanksgiving Day was full of all of our family traditions....
We started the day with a family breakfast. Shay's recipes went over very well! We did the Pumpkin Bread and Sausage Bake along with the Bacon and Gruyere Crescent Bake.
Thank God we bought that selfie stick ;)
Then we headed to the Turkey Trot with our friends the Batsons.
We also met up with the Lees and Debbie and Madison. We were a few minutes late but we still stopped to snap some family pics and so glad we did!
After the trot, we headed home to finish up preparations for our day. I made an app and put it out with Prosecco while all the kids were still home- it was a big hit. I made it for my mom because she loves it- puff pastry with fig preserves and goat cheese drizzled in honey.
The SPBs were all trading pictures of what they were looking at- this was my contribution- Angela was golfing in FLA and Karen was golfing in NJ- the rest of us were home cooking- we had some laughs with all of the pics
Rob showed off his apple pie- Aaron's face kills me in this
The big kids took off to spend the day with other families and we got ready to host our parents and my brother. We agreed that it was one of the best Thanksgivings ever- small- intimate and just really special
My new appetizer plate from Lea made an appearance :)
For dinner, we headed into the dining room which was both elegant and cozy
Black Friday
Well the BFF and I continued our tradition this year only this time, we got up earlier! We were at Starbucks by 5:30am and immediately got to Old Navy after that. Old Navy was better this year and we snagged several things for our kids!
The only pic I managed to get of us, as we were in the shopping zone, was the start of our day at Starbucks but glad I got this!
My thought on this tradition is that I could care less about the deals- they are great and all- it is the tradition and the quality time spent. We don't get much time alone anymore so this will be a day I cherish. On the shopping side, we did hit the following for the deals: Old Navy, The Hallmark Store, Christmas Tree Shop, Justice, Lord and Taylor, Macy's and Bath and Body Works.
Once we wrapped up shopping, we had to stop at our house so I could do Diana's hair and makeup. She had an all day and night dress rehearsal for The Nutcracker. Snapped a cute pic of her ready to go!
After that, we grabbed lunch and cocktails
at The Lobster Tail....and we may have gone a little overboard ;)
Lea and her friend Monika showed up and we laughed (we are always on the same page).
She was kind enough to give us rides home and then of course she stayed for awhile when we got to our house XOXO
Robby B snapped a pic of us- I know I look exhausted ;)
Saturday
It was time to decorate for Christmas and enjoy the first of two Nutcracker shows. I snuck in a little Hallmark too of course :)
Getting decked out for the big show
Some of Diana's fans waiting for the show
Ally, Aaron, Lea and Sam came too and really enjoyed it.
It was a beautiful Nutcracker show and we really enjoyed watching Diana as a Polichinelle. Aaron got some cute little clips!
and Rob got the entire routine!
Here is a professional shot taken back stage of Mother Ginger and The Polichinelles
and a few with us after the show
We all headed back to our house for a fun little evening to celebrate!
Sunday
It was time to head to mass and this week they did a blessing on all of the children which was special.
After mass, we finished our decorating and watched some more Hallmark.
In the afternoon, Rob and I headed to the Nutcracker to watch Diana one last time. It was such a festive day.
What a wonderful weekend- yep exhausted but LOVE this time of year and all of the traditions that we have created!
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