Thanksgiving Break 2015

Thanksgiving was really, really nice. Why?

1) No school on Wednesday! - This was a change now that we start before Labor Day, and one I can definitely get behind. After all, it's when I had a chance to handle all my hair anxiety.

2) A nice visit home! - The boys love seeing their Mama and Papa H and the feeling is mutual. Sometimes when I get annoyed by NOVA or get antsy like I want to pick up and move on a whim, it's nice to be reminded why we moved here in the first place. Seeing MDG and PDG light up and rush inside for hugs and toys and stories as fast as they can does just that trick.

3) Christmas card photo success! - I'll do another post on that when I'm sure I've tracked down all my addresses and gotten them out. Hopefully you've gotten yours by now. Clearly we needed Mama and Papa H to help with this year...

4) Family photos! - Mama H is sending a letter and some photos out with her cards this year and asked for something non-silly. I'll post what we got below. Someone please explain to me why my very happy baby boy refuses to look happy for the camera. The fact that we got a smile for the card was its own Christmas miracle, and clearly not repeated.

5) A nice trip to Great Grandma's house! - Sometimes MDG and PDG flip out when we go to GGma's house in Maryland. They have tantrums or refuse to give hugs/kisses/any attention at all. It leads to conflict because we don't visit enough and stress levels go up. Of course, we usually aim for morning visits. This time we did a 4pm arrival, the kids were awesome even without many toys to distract them, they were super affectionate, and we all left feeling all holiday happy.

6) A warm day for putting up lights! - J-Man is slowly becoming less grinchly over time, and while he's still winning the artificial tree battle, our yard gets brighter each year.

7) Even more warmth for raking the leaves! - Procrastination can pay off, folks. I've been too lazy or cold or dry to want to step foot in the back yard for a while, but then this warm spell came through and I was so glad I didn't do it earlier. PDG jumped, then taught MDG to jump, and I raked for all of ten  minutes before just taking pictures and heading back inside.

So yeah, a great five days with a million things to be thankful for. Now, when's Christmas break?