It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

We hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for...our family, our friends (both Mid-West and West Coast), home, health and most importantly each other! We were fortunate to have family visit this year. Ryan's parents (Terry and Carol) flew in the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and stayed with us until Sunday. Ryan made the Alton Brown "Good Eats" turkey again this year. Here he is pulling the bird out of a brine. Ryan's father is looking on in the background... Ryan soaked the bird in a brine made with vegetable broth, sugar, salt, black peppercorns and all-spice berries for over 12 hours... Here was our food before the "great" transformation...Ryan put the turkey in the oven mid-morning...While we were waiting, we bundled up and went on a walk. Unfortunately our walk was short-lived as the drizzle got the best of us...We decided that the warm living room was a much better place to hang out while the turkey was a roastin'...Ryan and his dad were in charge of the bird. Carol and I made the sides...Here is a pic of Terry and Ryan carving the birdHere is a picture of Carol making green bean casserole... YUMMY!!!We had rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, corn casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing, turkey and Aunt Karen's mac and cheese....DELICIOUS!!!! Here is our holiday spread...Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
The day after Thanksgiving, we drove to Downtown Indianapolis for the "Circle of Lights" ceremony. Every year, the War Monument is decorated to look like a tree. There is a big celebration during the lighting...Christmas was in the air!!!! Even this lab got into the holiday spirit!Happy Holidays! There was a stage set up at the base of the monument for singers and performers to entertain everyone...While we were waiting for evening to set in, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ate dinner... After we finished, we walked down the street toward the monument. As you can see, the streets were already starting to fill....It was chilly, but we had hot cocoa to keep us warm and toasty :) Here it is all lit up!!! YAY!!!

BEAUTIFUL.... Christmas "Indy" Style... Going to the Festival of Lights, motivated us to decorate our own house. Here is Ryan and his mom ringing in some holiday cheer by decorating our lil' Charlie Brown tree... We decided to put the tree in the dining room, so it can be seen from our front window. Ta-Da!!! We really wanted a real tree, but will have to wait until next year, as we will be in the Sunshine state...not California people!!!! Florida to be exact. We will be spending time with Ryan's cousin Chris and his wife, Janet over our Christmas Break...

I changed out our flower boxes from orangy autumn-colored flowers, to Christmas foliage...

We still have not had any snow this fall/winter...In fact, on Saturday, the temps almost reached 60 degrees~ But don't worry, as soon as we get some of the white stuff, we'll let you know!!! Until next time...xo