The Chaney Chapters: Leftovers

And for the rest of our Thanksgiving...

Our second Thanksgiving meal, one that I was truly thankful for since I could simply show up and eat, was at our neighbor/church member/friend/surrogate family member's house, Connie. She lives on our same street and often has us over for meals and thoughtfully passes along little gifts and such our way throughout the year. We spent the day with her family and some of her friends and when Addie was more than ready for a nap, we made ourselves some to-go plates and all came home for a nap.

This whole weekend has been nice - I'm almost sad to see it go. We ventured out on Friday for lunch, taking a break from our Thanksgiving leftovers (not counting the two actual Thanksgiving meals we had, leftovers gave us three other meals - not complaining!). We made a quick stop by a store to take advantage of a couple of Black Friday deals (I still found them at 3 p.m., not 3 a.m.) and came home for our annual day after Thanksgiving tree decorating. Saturday we swung by to say "hi" to the goats on our way to the beach, where Addie ran and played and dug and fed the birds and then fell asleep on the way home.

This was the first year that Addie has really been able to "help" with the tree. Last year she was still crawling so while she was able to find her way over to the tree and play with some of the safe ornaments strategically placed at the bottom of the tree, the rest of the tree made it through the season unscathed. This year, as a running, reaching toddler, she is much more able to, um, redecorate the tree on her own. I will say she has actually done pretty well and has stuck to the ornaments she is allowed to play with (for the most part) but I still have to keep an eye on her. My intention was to have a bigger, more grown up tree this year (we're still using the one from my single living days), which would mean she would be less likely to reach some of the higher ornaments but, given her crazy long reach and our small tree, she can snatch one of those every now and then. Day after Christmas, tree sales, here I come...actually, my sister-in-law may be able to pass one along to me for free, which is even better.

I'd say the tree decorating was a success, and it really is fun to have a little one around during the holidays. It's cool to see Addie's interest in new things she hasn't seen before, or at least doesn't remember, and it will be even more fun to open gifts with her this year.