We were planning on spending Thanksgiving in Kansas because Claire wanted to meet more of her family and Ryan's cousin was having her wedding reception that weekend, we also threw in my 30th birthday into the mix and we had quite a trip planned.
The weather does not really feel like the holiday season is upon us but I guess it is and I wanted to make sure we got to celebrate with my parents so we did that before leaving the state. Ryan & I brined and baked our turkey, my mom made her famous stuffing, mashed potatoes and desserts and I burnt the biscuits. It was a great holiday. I wish I had more of a tradition ready for Claire when it came to this holiday but I guess if we just make sure she knows to enjoy family, good food and be thankful then that is all that is really needed. It was nice to host for our second year in a row, the food was wonderful and as always I am so happy that my parents could come and spend the entire day with us. This year was my first year not being with my family for Thanksgiving so it was really special to make sure that we were still able to get together, we missed the twins a lot but we will make up for it when they are home next month for a few weeks. My mom&dad brought Claire all sorts of cute stuff to get ready for her for Christmas too: Advent calendar, plate and cup for Santa's milk and cookies and some decorations for our home <3 I love it all and so does Claire.
We were then off to Kansas, I will save the post about the flights for another time, once we arrived it was more family, food and fun. Now this felt a lot more like the holidays, I loved the weather, it was cold and crisp and everything just felt so fresh. Claire got to meet her first set of great grandparents and they hit it off :) Judy says that she thinks we should keep her haha. Ryan made his delicious salad, I tried to recreate my moms stuffing, and everyone brought delicious items. There were about 20 people from the Sunderland side, I have not seen everyone in about 4 years, when we visited for Christmas. It was so nice to catch up and watch Claire get so much love. She was awesome with everyone and her usual happy self. We played lots of cards {skip-bo champion right here], celebrated Chris & Katie's wedding, celebrated my birthday and just had a really nice trip.
Hope you had a lovely holiday
xox
Nikol