Happy Thanksgiving

Yeah, I know it's not Thursday, but somehow I did not get near my computer on Thursday to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

Even though we are Canadian, we do celebrate both Thanksgivings. The Canadian Thanksgiving is to give thanks at the close of the harvest and God's provision - I like that. And to be honest, we celebrate American Thanksgiving with the same attitude.

We celebrated again this year with our neighbors. I made yam and carrot casserole (substituting a sweet potato for the russet), rolls (my favorite stand-by special recipe), Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake pie, and a pumpkin roll (HT to InAShoe).

It was a wonderful day. I had made the pie and the cake minus the filling on Tuesday, so that gave me some room to be relaxed and lazy on Thursday morning. Our neighbor made a delicious meal and we were all stuffed. Fortunately she made way too much food and we have to go over tonight to help eat the leftovers. Sometimes it is tough to be a good neighbor! :-)

We skipped Black Friday entirely except to run a bank errand and pick up something we already needed at CVS but while I got what I needed, all the great deals were already scooped up.

So with Thanksgiving weekend arriving, our Christmas shopping season comes to an end. To be honest, all I have left to do is:

1. Get special cards and mail them ASAP
2. Order stamps
3. Order picture Christmas cards, the picture was taken this morning (I have a 20% off coupon code for Kodak!)
4. Pick up a Christmas decoration for each of the girls' stockings (this is tradition, it is how our kids will have decorations for their own tree one year, each with a special story. The grandparents also send them, so each girl will get 3 a year). (Baby's special one with her name on it should be here any day now, but that one goes under the tree, she still gets a second one in her stocking)
   
5. Order one thing online for Mr. Pear
6. Mail some stuff.

In our house Canadian Thanksgiving officially launches Christmas shopping and prep season, American Thanksgiving ends it, and I love that, it makes our December so much more restful and focused on quietly preparing both our hearts and our home. It also helps that we have to get stuff in the mail early too! :-)

How was your Thanksgiving?