Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks to preschool, Gianna was super prepared for Thanksgiving. She kept asking when our feast was. Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa arrived Wednesday morning, so the festivities could begin a little early.

Gianna was excited about the Macy's parade. Okay, maybe I was more excited. But hey, Doug is not exactly a parade enthusiast, so I was looking forward to sharing it with someone who would appreciate it. And she did! She was a little lukewarm about it first, but eventually she really got into it, lots of dancing and singing along.

We had a delicious meal with way too much food. But Doug's turkey was so awesome that we didn't mind eating leftovers and definitely didn't let it all go to waste. Not surprisingly, Gianna ate virtually none of the Thanksgiving fare and Mark loved every dish! We tried to make Thanksgiving in Germany last year, but it was fun to do it up right this year!

The day after Thanksgiving, Doug and I took Gianna to her very first movie in a movie theater, Tangled. She LOVED the popcorn and tolerated the movie, so when the popcorn ran out she said, "Mommy, I'm not really enjoying this. I want to go home." Fortunately, a quick trip with Doug to get some M&Ms revived her interest and she made it to the end. She did like it, but I think she'll appreciate it more once we can watch it at home and really talk it out. The girl likes to talk it out. She definitely enjoyed her special time with Mommy and Daddy. We're so glad Grandma and Grandpa could stay home with The Shark.

We also tried to take some potential Christmas card pictures. There was no crying, but there wasn't much cooperating either, so maybe we'll try again sometime!

On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa left and Nonna and Pop-pop stopped by on their way back home. It was nice to spend a few hours with them and they even helped us get our Christmas tree.

We got it completely decorated on Sunday and Gianna had a fun time looking at all of our ornaments and helping put them on the tree. Mark was intrigued by the tree and learned quickly that he is not to touch it or the ornaments, but the ones that are ball-shaped were just TOO tempting for him. So now that they're out of his reach he's doing great. And we're loving our great tree. We haven't had a real one since 2005!

Dear Christmas Season, we missed you last year! Bring it on!