Thanksgiving / Merry Zipf Christmas!

We arrived a few days before the actual Thanksgiving day so Ivy and Owen got to enjoy some fun time with Grampa and Gramma and playing with all of their toys!

As is their tradition, Gramma and Ivy ate, I mean, baked a batch of cookies...

***************************************************
As usual, we spent Thanksgiving at Nathan's Aunt Linda and Uncle Glenn's beautiful and very accommodating house. Uncle Glenn and Aunt Linda host Thanksgiving every year which is so kind of them to open their home and welcome everyone there. It is also such a huge undertaking to get ready for an event like this and for all of that we are so thankful that they welcome the family gathering year after year. We love to spend Thanksgiving there as almost ALL of Nathan's aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. come, and we can see everyone all at one time...sort of like a family reunion! This year, there were over 30 people! The only ones missing were Nathan's brother, Shannon, and his family, and Nathan's cousins: Gigi and Amy and their two girls who live in Virginia; Holly and two of her boys who live right next door!; and Kevin and Angela and their two kids who live in Washington. They were missed! Maybe one of these days the whole family can be there all at one time...I'm sure someone would love that to happen!

The Thanksgiving meal is prepared by everyone; that is, every family has its own responsibility (or responsibilities) to make and bring something. It is well thought-out and always runs so smoothly when everyone has their individual tasks. This year, Nathan's mom (Jill) said that they were scaling back...the family usually makes 3 turkeys, but this year, they made 4 turkeys! :-)

Gram always says the blessing for our meal, and then everyone digs in! ALL of the food was delicious!

After the meal and the clean-up, the ladies and kids usually get together and make a craft! Aunt Jeri and Trisha had graciously volunteered to organize the craft. We made these very crafty candy apple ornaments. They are so cute!

While the women are busy being crafty, the men usually sit around and shoot the breeze or catch a few winks on the couch while the football games can be heard in the background of all of the chatter! (This year, though, the turkey must not have been that potent with the triptophin (or whatever it is and however you spell that word!) that there didn't seem to be as many sleepyheads!) :-)

Two of the newest members of the family, Summer and Isabella...

After finishing the ornament craft, some got together to play a game. This year's game was Dominoes...and Uncle Bob even played! (I think this is the first time we've ever seen Uncle Bob wanting to play a game!) We had LOTS of fun!

Of course, the girls had some fun, too...thanks to Jake allowing them to "beat up" on him!

******************************************************
Late Thanksgiving night, Nathan's brother, Shannon, and Steph, Alex, Josh and Anna arrived at his parents' house. The kids had a great time playing together...

The train was a hit among all of the cousins, especially with Ivy...

Little Miss Train Conductor

The only one of Shannon's kids that doesn't cry when Uncle Nathan gets near them! :-) (I think maybe Uncle Nathan goes a little easier on Anna than the boys though!)

Bedtime buddies...

Now, it's time for a tea party. Great Gram was so proud!

***************************************************
For the first time in, I don't know, EVER, Nathan and I and Shannon and Steph got to go out all together with NO KIDS! (Grampa and Gramma graciously volunteered to watch all 5 of our kids while we got to enjoy a nice, relaxing, QUIET, and FUN morning out together!) It was so enjoyable to get away and actually have some focused adult conversation and finally catch up after what seems like YEARS! THANK YOU, Grampa and Gramma, for the lovely morning! We look forward to turning this event into a tradition every time we come home! (We hope Grampa and Gramma would agree since there will be a total of 7 kids and 2 dogs next time!) :-)

***************************************************
Sadly, since we make the trip to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving, we are unable to make another trip to Pennsylvania (let alone anywhere) for Christmas. SO, the Zipf families celebrate Christmas over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. This year, our Christmas meal was planned for lunch which seemed to work out REALLY well as the kids were able to play and enjoy their presents much longer rather than being rushed off to bed or getting to bed SOOOO late, and we were able to see their enjoyment!

Unwrapping the presents (from youngest to oldest, although Owen was napping at the time, but he joined us later)...

Grampa and Gramma got Ivy her first sleeping bag for Christmas, but where is Ivy?

Here she is!

I think Josh liked his Lego present we got him...he just sat and held onto it for quite a long time after he got it! :-)

After the presents were unwrapped, the kids got to having fun with their new treasures!

MERRY ZIPF CHRISTMAS!!!
***************************************************

After our LONG trip home, we unpacked the van, while Ivy and Owen continued to enjoy some of their Christmas presents. Owen was definitely not going to part with his new hat! :-)

And, Ivy LOVES her magnetic dress-up dolls!

All in all, our trip was very enjoyable! It is ALWAYS great to go home and see family and friends and everything familiar! We LOVE going home, but it's always hard to come back to our "home" as we miss our family sooooo much!

And, of course, we have the HUGE suitcase full of laundry to welcome us back to reality! :-) Yikes!