Another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We had a full house this year with my youngest son Eric and his wife Kristin visiting along with their two doggies Molly and Bailey.  Also my son Paul and his growing family were here along with Grandma and Grandpa from Florida, Mark's brother Fred and cousin Stephanie.  Not a quiet place was to be had!!

Everytime I sat down at the table I had little Molly's head peeking up at me.  She just knew I was going to drop a morsel of food at some point.  And of course, we had been given strict instructions not to feed the dogs ANYTHING!!!  What fun is that??!!

Molly and Bailey loaded in the car for their long ride home.  Hopefully they will sleep most of the way.  We were a little worried about having both dogs in the house but everything worked out just fine and we got to know Bailey a little better.  Molly has been around for years but Bailey is a new doggie to us.  She turned out to be a real sweetheart.

We took to the girls to the Farmer's Market with us on Saturday to look at trees.  We put up an artificial tree every year but I'm really missing the fresh cut trees.  Just smelling them was so wonderful.  What a silly face Reagan is making.  Didn't even see it until I put this picture up.  Oh well...........

The day after Thanksgiving Kristin helped Mark and I get the Fall stuff back in the attic and get down Christmas decorations.  She helped dust all the surfaces and loved the workout she got from hauling all those heavy crates up and down the stairs.  Oh to be young again...................

I decided to go ahead and start decorating for Christmas and am proud to say that it is all done.  I worked most of the day on Friday, some on Saturday and some on Sunday. 

Inside and outside are both done and I am so happy about that!!!   On to other things now........

Like shopping........

Mark always takes off the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving and we do marathon shopping.  We normally hit all the local malls along with some other stops along the way.  We were out for about ten hours yesterday.  And today we've yet to leave the house.  As I get older the shopping gets harder.  We need to start working out to prepare for the shopping adventures.

Hope you're all having a great season of Thanksgiving..................

and speaking of Thanksgiving, thank you all for the wonderful sympathy cards and emails you've sent for my Mom's passing.  Your notes of encouragement have been a true blessing.  I am blessed to have such wonderful friends!!