Thanksgiving 2013

What better time to post about Thanksgiving than the day after Christmas? This year was slightly untraditional. After a hoped-to-be simplified Thanksgiving dinner we made our way North towards a cabin near Blairsville, GA.

David and Omar help by playing with the Wii.   

The cabin was awesome and I spent the majority of the time cuddled in an oversized Cal, Berkeley sweatshirt. 

We played games:

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We also ventured outside the cabin a few times, once to visit the largest model railroad in the country. I have to say, I was quite impressed. I wished my Dad and Travis were there. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of juice so I only got a few photos. The attention to detail was amazing. 

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We also made pecan logs. And by we, I mean Uncle Harold. I woke up from a nap in time to snap some pictures of the final moments. 

Pecan logs (REAL ones) are a Carlson tradition. I was excited to see how to make and shape the cream center. The center goes from a thin, sticky substance to a malleable dough. 

Then you add the vanilla and mix it in.

Eventually you form it into balls which are then rolled into logs and frozen.

After you wrap the logs in caramel you roll them in pecans.

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We are going to miss these two! They are moving to Boston soon. 

I love this family and feel super blessed to be a part of it. 

Dear Mom #4 Christmas at the Reece's

Well, howdy! You recently asked me to post pictures of our Christmas decorations and I am happy to oblige. I love our little Christmas tree. it is the perfect size for our apartment. David says we have too many ornaments, though. I think he's being silly. When our ornaments out grow our tree, we'll just get two trees.

Do you remember those lights? I can't believe they still work... But they do make taking good photos difficult. Or maybe I still don't understand my camera. I didn't want to cheat and use a flash.

This little guy below is our newest edition. His wings are made out of wood. I think it he is beautiful. 

And I'm sure you recognize these two: 

I love how each of the ornaments on our tree contains a memory. That's how Christmas should be: full of memories.

I'm sure you've heard this story behind our star, before. But during our first Christmas when we were decorating I realized that we didn't have a star to put on top of our tree! (What a monstrosity!) I knew about your story, but didn't want to copy it. David came to the rescue and put a cookie cutter on our tree that had recently broken. Like Dad, I'm not sure David will ever want to change and put a nice one on top!

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Next to our tree is our collection of Christmas stories. I think I need a bigger basket... and there are so many more out there that have yet to be found at Goodwill!

I LOVE nativity scenes. I keep telling David how I want to start collecting them. There are so many beautiful ones out there. If you look closely, you can see that the angel is holding a cat...it makes me laugh. It actually doesn't belong to the willow tree nativity set, but I don't care. I'm certain a cat was also present at the birth of our Savior.  

And don't forget about our Swedish Elves! Bringing these out each Christmas is one of my favorite parts.

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year.