Our Thanksgiving - Picture Heavy!

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year! Justin got the whole week off work, so that's already a bonus, and we REALLY enjoyed having Daddy home so much! We decided that this year we're not going to travel for any holidays. Making the 8-12 hour drives and staying in other people's homes is hard enough, but we have an energetic and spirited toddler on our hands, and we just didn't think it was a good idea this year. So instead of spending Thanksgiving with family this year, we were blessed to be able to spend it with friends! My dear friend Charity and her new husband, Ndolembai, drove up from Texas to spend the weekend with us! She's the only one who thought to pull out her camera and document the time for us, so all of these pictures are courtesy of her. Unfortunately, since she was the photographer, all I have of her are a couple self-portraits... Don't hate me for posting them, Charity!

The happy newlywedsThey arrived just after lunch on Thanksgiving Day, so then Charity and I spent the afternoon cooking and we had Thanksgiving Dinner together. Here's me with the turkey.And the man of the house carving it up!We had quite a spread! Turkey, Crockpot Maple Glazed Ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and Butternut Squash and Cheese Panade (a fancy schmancy recipe for stuffing that I found in a magazine... It was DELICIOUS!). Then we had carrot cake (with homemade cream cheese icing) and apple oat crisp for dessert! Elias REALLY liked Charity's sweet potato casserole! (He's actually saying "Yummyyyyyyyy!" in this picture.)
This was the first time Charity had ever been able to meet Elias, and she took some really cute pictures of him!Charity and Ndolembai live near Dallas and so they're big Cowboys fans... I think they converted Elias!They also brought him a cute little football outfit as a gift, and it fits great! Here he is modeling it for us.
Then Charity, Ndolembai, and I got up EARLY on Friday morning to snag some deals at WalMart. This is what Charity and I look like BEFORE the crack of dawn. The Texans were surprised to have to scrape the windows before we could go! Charity took a picture of the car clock to prove what time we were headed to WalMart. Yep, that says 4:54. AM.

We also drove to Springfield later in the day and did some more shopping there... We got some great bargains and had lots of fun together!

It had been over 3 years since I had been able to spend time with Charity, and so it was such a blessing to be able to share this holiday with her and Ndolembai! I am so thankful for their friendship!