Not that I have been in hiding per
se, but it feels like we have been buried since coming home. Of course coming home right before the holidays doesn't necessarily help, but what better motivation to get our home - literally and figuratively- in order?
Lest I lead you astray, I have hardly been home bound the last couple weeks. Immediately - as in the day after we checked out of the hotel - Mike and I boarded a plane to London. We had plans to visit his Dad's flat for months and it just so happened that the trip was planned for right when we came home. Actually that is not entirely true. I was calling the insurance company for a few days before we left telling them we needed to be out of the hotel and back in our house before we left. I don't know how many friends I made that week, but I doubt we are exchanging Christmas cards. :)
So London was great. We ate well and went to see a couple of shows. Mike's dad and his wife were with us so it was fun to spend some time with them. I went to have tea at The Ritz which was fantastic as well. It was just enough time to forget about the mayhem, but we also knew that the house was not going to organize itself. Besides...we wanted to host Thanksgiving! Yes, we got home and had three days to pull off Thanksgiving. We had much to be thankful for and wanted to spend our first Thanksgiving in a house IN our house.
I couldn't include the picture of the turkey because my turkeys don't come out pretty. I cook them upside so they taste juicy. They taste good...just don't look good.
And along the lines on first holidays in the house, the weekend after Thanksgiving was a mad rush to Home Depot to buy Christmas lights for the house. I don't have pictures of that just yet, but suffice it say that my sweet hubby and I had quite the debate over all white lights vs. retro 1972 big bulb colored lights. And in the spirit of Christmas we came to a compromise. White lights inside the house and retro outside. I can't help but laugh hysterically
every time I drive up to the house. I feel like I'm 7 when I see those huge bulbs hanging from the rain gutters.
OK...I'm to recreate the Christmas labels. Did I tell everyone that our hard drive crashed as soon as we plugged our computer back in? It did. I was not happy. Not at all. But I did get an early Christmas present out of the deal. Helllllllllooooooooooooo laptop!
They had a great time and enjoyed being "Fancy Nancies". They stuck their pinkies out and Grace said, "Dahling" a lot. They served the little ones hot chocolate and then a few courses of yummy stuff. First they had finger sandwiches (grilled cheese, egg, PB & J, and Strawberry and Banana). Then they had chocolate chip scones hot from the oven. Next, they had berries and cream with four little pastries. As for Nana and I, we had the typical tea fare. Don't get me wrong...it was delicious, but would you rather have a chocolate chip scone or a raisin scone? I rest my case. 
After the tea we moved into the lobby to be entertained by a clown. All the girls took off their shoes and sat on pillows and listened to stories until Santa arrived with....TEDDY BEARS!
