Real Thanksgiving and Fakesmas

As you know, we make our own rules about celebrating holidays, so this past week we headed to NY to celebrate Real Thanksgiving and Fake Christmas (Fakesmas) with our NY family. The kids did a great job in the car- Jack and Ben slept most of the way there, though our girl was much too excited for that. She didn't close her eyes once! She was incredibly well behaved, though. We did have a bit of a diaper issue, but luckily that coincided with our stop at a rest stop, so it wasn't too disastrous. You haven't lived until you have fed and changed three kids under three at a rest stop on a holiday.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner (on the actual Thanksgiving Day, this time) thanks to Grandma, with some help from others. Mairead ate turkey and rolls, mostly. The boys enjoyed some of Grandma's Squash Apple soup- so good!

I wasn't great about taking pictures since the boys still weren't feeling great and I was holding one or the other most of the time. But I did get a few.

This one was actually taken when we got home- Mairead was playing with her new Little People garage from Grandma- she loves it! She likes to make the cars go up in the elevator and then speed down the ramp.


While we were there, Mairead got to spend some quality time with Grandma. For example, they played 'Squish" (also known as play-doh) together for a long time. Then, Grandma gave Mairead's bangs a much needed trim.


When it was time for Christmas, Mairead discovered a giant pile of 'surprises,' which is what she calls presents. They were way over in a pile, so she took it upon herself to bring them into the living room where we could open them.

Mairead's cousin, Rachael, entertained us with her amazing reading skills. She read us Amelia Bedilia and even remembered to show us all of the pictures.

When we first pulled up to the house, Rachael came running out to the car. Mairead yelled, "It's a girl! Hi, girl!"

Aunt Ry had a lot of fun with the little ones. Jack was very happy on her lap.

I wish I had more pictures because we really did have a great time. It's hard to have fun with three kids AND get pictures. Maybe we should be on a reality show like Jon and Kate.

We hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We know how much we have to be thankful for, and that includes all of you. We are so excited to start celebrating Christmas with our kids. I LOVE Christmas and I hope that I can get Mairead excited about it. We are going to start Christmas activities soon and celebrate it the whole month long. I hope all of you enjoy the season, too!