Thanksgiving

We hope everyone ate too much turkey and pumpkin pie over the holiday. We spent Thanksgiving with Ryan’s family in Carroll. It was a little crowded with 20+ people in his parents split foyer, but it was so great to see everyone! After an amazing traditional Thanksgiving dinner – prepared by my mother-in-law who is a phenomenal cook – we went out to the farm to join the extended family for dessert. It was a relatively small crowd this year with only about 40 people in attendance. I’m just now realizing half of that was Ryan’s immediate family!

Ryan and I enjoyed a little hunting. Ryan was after pheasants and I was hoping for some terrific ‘Black Friday’ deals. I’d never been shopping the day after Thanksgiving. We woke at 4:30 a.m. Ryan’s sisters, niece and I arrived at Wal-Mart at 5:05 a.m. It was mass chaos. We managed to get out unscathed, except for Ryan’s sister who learned that our niece wants a $150 iPod for Christmas. I was able to cross three people off my shopping list. We buzzed over to K-mart, which was only slightly less insane then Wally World. No purchases made there for me. After refueling with breakfast at the Hy-Vee deli, we were off to JCPenny’s and our last stop was Payless. We returned from our shopping adventure just before 11 a.m. Now that I’ve experienced shopping the day after Thanksgiving, I don’t have any desire to do it again.

We stayed with Ryan’s sister and her family Friday night as it was closer to the place Ryan was deer hunting Saturday morning. While Ryan was in the trees, I went to a craft show with his sister, niece and nephew. Afterward I helped them set up their Christmas tree. Ryan and I headed home early that afternoon with a deer in tow. We ran a few errands – including a stop at Thiesens farm supply, which finished off two more people on our list.

Ryan and I put up our decorations while watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – the iconic Christmas movie for Ryan’s family, which means the holiday is upon us.