Super Late Thanksgiving Post

I had great intentions of doing these great posts on recipes, decor, kid table fun ideas. But as you can see, I didn't. Yup. I got so busy with cleaning my house (like, on my hands and knees with a tooth brush scrubbing the snot out of our toilets), ironing napkins, tablecloths, clothes, sewing my skirt, and attempting to sleep even though it was hard. So here's how my first Thanksgiving went and what I learned.

1. I had my house cleaned a couple days in advance. That way on the day of it was just a quick wipe down and a sweep and mop, light a butt load of candles and call it good.

2. My skirt (which I'll post later) was done two days before Thanksgiving. Some of you might think that that is cutting it close, but for me, that's a HUGE victory! Usually I'm staying up late the night before an event finishing my clothes. Having it done two days before, piece of cake!

3. I had my potatoes done, in the fridge, my cranberry sauce made and in the fridge, all the day before. That was a HUGE help for me! My grandmother used to make us kids peal her potatoes, now I know why she did that. It's the most boring, time consuming job. But I had them done, whipped up and in the fridge before nap time was done the day before.

4. The day of, I was so relaxed (which freaked my husband out). I had everything set up, cleaned and waiting by 2:00 (dinner was at 6:00).
5. Turkey's are the easiest thing to cook! Who would have thought?! The only gross part is getting the neck out and the gizzards out. Other than that, it was so easy, it was ridiculous!

6. HAVE A KID TABLE!!!!! I set up a kid table for the three "big" kids and it made dinner so enjoyable! There weren't flying rolls being thrown by bored toddlers, no tears, no frantic mother's eating when the kids were busy (which usually meant that dinner was done and we had to eat it cold). We put in the movie "Elf" and the kids sat still, ate more than any of us expected, and were quiet! I covered the little picnic table with brown paper, I set out crayons, made Pilgrim hats and turkey pine cone decorations, I printed off color pages so they could sit and color. It was Heaven! Here's a picture of the kid table (after they kind of picked it apart).

Here are the kids sitting quietly and eating. Notice my son is the only one not dressed up? Well we had a little bit of a fight with him right before everyone got here as I was trying to get him dressed. He wanted to wear his Bumble Bee costume, and I wanted him to put on his sweater. He wore his sweater long enough for family pictures, then shucked it like corn. I'll take what I can!

So, those are the things that I learned. Not only was this year a success, I volunteered for next year! Yup, it was that good! I enjoyed every minute of it, but the best part was just having a nice meal with family. Then after Thanksgiving I was in a coma for about 4 days. It was glorious!

Now I'm working so hard on my Christmas gifts, I will have a kid's apron tutorial this month (because that is two of my gifts) and some other fun things. Hope you all are having a great start to your December!