Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

Hello!!! We hope everyone had a very happy Turkey Day! We are so thankful that you are apart of our lives. We have been blessed with wonderful friends and family. Not a day goes by that we do not realize how lucky we are!!! On Thanksgiving day, we were fortunate to spend the day with our friend Steve. Steve went to high school with us and worked at Moreno Valley Ranch with me years ago. He grew up in Moreno Valley and was transferred to Indianapolis for work 2 years ago. All of his family, like ours live on the west coast...
My co-worker Alissa and son Tyler were supposed to join us to- but her sister changed their dinner back to Thursday instead of Friday. That was kind of a bummer, but we still had a great day!

Here is our table...my mama sent us the flowers in the center of the table. Thanks mom- I love you!!!! xo

Steve brought over 7-Layer Dip as an appetizer. It was delicious!!! Here is Ryan prepping the bird. He soaked it in a brine that he got off the internet from the Food Channel show, "Good Eats." He is obsessed with that program.
He had to cook the bird at 500 degrees the first 30 minutes and then 350 the rest of the time...
He stuffed the bird with apples, rosemary, sage, onions and a cinnamon stick. Here is the finished product. TA-DA!!! It looked so good, Steve couldn't control himself...
I cooked too- stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn casserole, green bean casserole, crescent rolls, cranberry sauce, yams, and Aunt Karen's homemade mac and cheese. Everything turned out fantastic- Apparently I am a better cook than I thought...

Here we are posing with Steve's favorite- green bean casserole. It was good...but not as good as my mom's. It wasn't nearly as creamy. I wonder what she does different....hmmmm????

The boys liked it....we were all stuffed to the gills!!!! We had to wait a couple of hours before indulging in that pumpkin and apple pie!

We still have left-overs. I made wayyyyyyyy toooooooo much!!!! That's okay though, I hate cooking and LOVE to eat (especially fattening, carb-loaded) food like this. Yes- we are cheating on our diet....we have been so good and are back down to our CA weights at the current moment.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! On Saturday, our neighbor Sabrina offered to take pictures for our Christmas card. We went to Potter's Woods to "strike a pose."

Here are some of the REJECTS...the rest made the annual Holiday Card (which will be coming to a mail box near you):
After the pictures, we drove to the outdoor mall, Clay Terrace in Carmel to check out the Christmas decorations.Here is Santa's Village. So cute!!!I got all excited and convinced my hubby to help me decorate our casa. We turned up the Christmas music and got to work. We were going to get a real tree- but decided to save money and bust out the tiny artificial one I 've had since college. Here is the finished product. Next year, my goal is to get a real, big, color-coordinated tree to go with my non-existent dining room furniture.

I LOVE table decor. Here is our kitchen table....topped with the snowflake placemats Grandma Genie made me and the napkin rings my Aunt Heidi and cousins Cori and Tommy bought me years ago... And what good is a Christmas table without a Christmas kitchen??? Many of my holiday decorations were gifts from former students. That is just one of the many perks of being a schoolteacher.
Ryan hates it...he says it looks like a Christmas store "threw up" in our house...Where is his sense of holiday spirit??? BAH-HUMBUG!!!!


I put out my two nativity sets and stole some straw from the green belt across the street to complete my decor. The gardeners in our home development lay down straw so the geese don't eat the grass.

Here is my village and the two stockings Ryan's Grandma Barbara made us. The tiny stockings are for our baby boys- Frodo and Sammy.

The quilt on our couch was a wedding gift from my old school secretary at Bear Valley, Diane. It is so cute- it has Christmas trees and moose on it.

The 3 stockings hung from the mantle are for me, Ryan and Steve....Steve is going to spend Christmas with us too. :)

We got so caught up in the decorating that we ran out of time!!! We had EVERY intention of driving to downtown Indianapolis to see the "Circle of Lights." Each year there is a celebration/countdown the Friday after Thanksgiving to celebrate the lighting of the War Monument . Here are some pics I uploaded from Google, so you can see. We'll try to go downtown in the next few weeks and take some pics in person...

Ryan put up our Christmas lights this weekend. We didn't want to buy any new ones, so we made do with what we had from our old house in Beaumont...Here is the finished product...next year, we might go BIG and add some on to the 2nd story...We did go to Wal-Greens and splurge on some bows for the railing and a Santa sign...It's a good thing Ryan hung the lights when he did, because in the morning, we woke up to this!!!It's a WINTER WONDERLAND!!!Here's our backyard... The dogs were so cute- they didn't know what to do...
We ran out in the snow with them and they got the hang of it...
Maybe we will have a "White Christmas" afterall....

It is sooooooooo BEAUTIFUL!!!! Wish you were here to see!!!

Of course- you don't have to drive in this on your way to work tomorrow morning!!!! Wish us luck!!!

Until next time...xo