Thanksgiving

This year, Thanksgiving looked different from every other year due to our unusual circumstances.   There was thanksgiving in the "different" as we made memories to last a lifetime as opposed to having another year that blends into the rest, although we also look forward to blending more ordinary years together too. 

Jonah transferred from Lurie to RIC on Thanksgiving, which allowed us to share a Thanksgiving meal together as a family.  Granny did all the cooking and transporting and cousin Anne came in from Ithaca to help oversee the craziness that follows us around.

We started the week by taking the kids to see the Charlie Brown Christmas play.  Julia was especially excited as she thought she was going to get to dance on stage.

Noah started less impressed as he thought he was going to have to preform "50 Nifty United States".  Noah preformed this song for his recent Veteran's Day show and there was a lot of practicing as he wanted to get it right.  If you don't know the song, you should find it online and listen to it 1,000 times and then you too will have all the states memorized in alphabetical order.

The best part of children's theater?  You get to meet the cast after the show!  Above is Charlie Brown and Lucy and below is Linus and Sally.

There is a big holiday lights fest on Michigan Ave that includes a parade with Disney characters.  We got a chance to meet them in person before the parade.

The Museum of Science and Industry is running a "Christmas Trees Around the World" display.  To honor our beloved friends, the Sorensens, from Denmark, the kids posed in front of the Danish tree, which did resemble the Soreneses tree in years past.

We got 8-10 inches of snow during break.  The kids loved that it was daddy that took them home that night so that they could play endlessly in the snow.  As far as I'm concerned, the best part of the snow is that it all melted 2 days later!

We got all fancy one afternoon and checked out the Christkindlmarket and then Ubered over to the Drake for a fancy holiday tea.  Everyone loved the finger sandwiches and harpist.  This may become a tradition that blends into ordinary years it was so much fun!
      

I couldn't miss the opportunity to have some special date time with the "bigs" as our time together is so limited.  Noah and I wandered around Michigan Ave and ended up at the Lego Store with an extra Lego set.  Anna and I got matching pedicures and a snack at Starbucks.

As a child, I loved the book, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever".  To my delight, a local theater turned it into a play and Anne accompanied us.  The Provision Theater gets a thumbs up for their performance and introducing my kids to a story that I love.

Daddy got really brave and decided to keep the standing tradition of decorating the Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend with the 3 kids all by himself.