This isn't the best picture, but it's pretty silly on Bella's part. This is my first turkey. It weighed 21 pounds could feed a small army. It turned out pretty good thanks to Brad's telephone help and no one got sick. So I count it a success. Really, Nate and I made a joint effort at putting Thanksgiving dinner on the table. He helped get the bird ready, I have a little trouble with raw meat that still resembles its animal form. Then he took care of Sophie all morning while I prepared the stuffing and potatoes. He set the table and did a lot of the clean up as well. I must say, I am a bit sore from peeling 10 pounds of potatoes and chopping onions and celery. We had eleven people for dinner and way too much food. I realize on Thanksgiving every year that I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving foods. I can attribute this to the eight or ten times I had the flu on Thanksgiving while I was growing up. I think I just associate it with being sick. But everyone else seemed to have had a great time and finished off the evening playing Encore. If you haven't played Encore, you totally should. Marsha got it for me this year for my birthday and we have been playing it at family get togethers ever since. Basically you have to sing songs associated with a word or phrase on a card. And you go back and forth with the other team until on team runs out of songs to sing. The best part about it is the kids can play and have fun if they want to. Also, Nate's family is full of people who will sing shamelessly for the most part without regard to being in tune or self consciousness. This makes the game super fun and I am always sad to see it over.

I woke up the day after Thanksgiving around 5:30 to feed Sophie and decided I would run to a few stores after that. I figured everyone would be asleep, so I may as well get some shopping done. I wanted to go to Target, but the closest parking space was my house, which is miles away. So I ran over to Kohls, they had been open for hours already, so it wasn't as busy. I shopped for Bella and got stuff for Jack's stocking and was home by 8 o'clock. We went to see Enchanted all together around 10, then to IHOP for lunch. Enchanted was cute, tons of references to other Disney Princess movies. I have been waiting for a princess movie ever since Bella was born. Don't get me wrong, I love the Pixar flicks, but I remember how much I loved Ariel when Little Mermaid came out and wanted another princess flick for my girls. Silly I know because I was thirteen when Little Mermaid opened, but I have always loved Disney, still do. When we got home I lay down with Sophie, intending it to be just a few minutes, and awoke a few hours later. I must have been pretty exhausted to sleep like that, so it was good, but I always feel really groggy after naps.

So now I am on to the Christmas shopping rush. I have made a list, I just need to start getting stuff done, time always moves so fast on this side of Thanksgiving.