Thanksgiving, Shrimp, Christmas, and a Disaster- Oh my!

When Justin and I wed, we adopted the common practice of trading off holidays between our families. One year we spend Thanksgiving with His and Christmas with Mine, the next year we swap, and so on. According to pattern, last week we spent Thanksgiving with my out-of-state parents. My brother and his wife, niece, sister, and grandparents got to join us for the festivities as well.

To fit both holidays into the same week- around my brother's work schedule- we did Thanksgiving on Tuesday and Christmas on Thursday. I have no pictures of our Thanksgiving feast, probably because I spent three days of vacation with a terrible cold. I think I slept most of those first few days, including "Thanksgiving". But if you can imagine a turkey and mashed potatoes, then you get an idea of the table, wink.

We pretended Thursday was Christmas (Turkey day for you all which was very confusing on social media, let me tell you!)

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The cousins; this is as good as it gets with 3 children 3 and under!

Evan tearing into a gift

Reese wearing her new headband, with Grandpa helping with a gift 

I was thrilled they got into the unwrapping this year

We ladies debated whether we could/should do two large feasts in one week since were celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the end, my mom had a great idea for "Christmas" dinner that was fun and unique: a shrimp boil. Basically you dump all the ingredients in a large pot, boil, and serve on the table. Yes, it was a little far from traditional, but we had just eaten turkey two days before :)

Shrimp Boil- it was REALLY good!

Cousins playing memory match. Only one of them really understood the game;
I'm ashamed to admit it was my niece and not my kids, hehe

One of the best moments of my week- sleeping toddler! This never happens.

Grandma snuggles & parade

Oh yeah, this happened. Can you tell what that smashed-to-bits thing is? It was our TV. My husband and I were rearranging furniture and I may have let my side slip (there is no way to grip those things!). The bright side is that our TV was roughly 1,000 technology years old (approximately 20 human years), so it was way past its prime anyway. This happened the day before we left for vacation. Go me.

I enjoyed my family and vacation so much. Even if I was sick, I did get a lot of rest and relaxation. I love the holidays! I hope your Thanksgiving celebrations were a delight as well!