Pre- Christmas

Michael has a long standing tradition of opening his Christmas presents early- like REALLY early.

I like to be prepared and do all my Christmas shopping in November to get all this great sales. And also I am horrible about keeping secrets. So on the 16th (11/16/18) when I mentioned that I might already have Micheal's gift bought and hidden in the house he went on a quest to retrieve it. So at 10pm at night he began rummaging through our apartment and would not rest until he found it.

 Here he is with his prize- the Series 4 Apple Watch. He has been begging for one since they came out with the cellular feature where he can leave his phone and still make and receive calls. It comes in handy when you have a job where you are on call 24/7 and pretty much glued to your phone.

 Black Friday also fares well for me since my birthday is a little more than a week later. I have been considering getting an xbox just because I wanted to play this game since they announced they would be remaking it. So Michael went out and bought me an early birthday/Christmas present.

I also set my tree up super early this year. Usually I set it up on the First of December. But since we had company coming I wanted it to be up and decorated for our holiday dinner. So it went up 2 days before Thanksgiving. I am very particular that all my ornaments MUST be gold. No tacky mismatch or colorful decor or lights. Always gold- it was one of the first gifts after all. This year I added gold tipped pine cones.

So here we are. 1 days after Thanksgiving and Christmas has already come and gone for our household 😅 Now all we have to look forward to is the gifts we have gotten others and Skyping my family on Christmas Day.

Thanksgiving '18

This year we spent Thanksgiving in North Dakota again. 

Michael's family was able to take some time and make the drive to come spend the Holiday with us.

We were very Thankful 😉 for the company.

 They came up the night before, and were able to spend all Thursday & Friday with us. It was nice to have some time to just sit together and laugh and enjoy each others company. This year we bought a Turkey roaster. Up until a few months ago I thought it was just a "warmer" that kept the bird good while you waited or traveled to dinner. Turns out its like a giant crock pot that cooks the whole thing! I like to stuff the turkey with half a chopped onion, some garlic, and some chopped celery. Then we butter the whole thing inside and out. Season with salt & pepper, Paprika & Garlic salt. And then inject it all over with the seasoning, melted butter, and chicken broth. If you think you have injected it enough keep going until you know you may have over done it. lol. Then turn the bird breast down and fill the inside of the bird and bottom of the roaster pan with more chicken broth.
We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, rolls, & green bean casserole. Following with a full dessert of multiple pies. I wanted to make a lemon meringue pie, but somehow I forgot the lemons!? 😂
We finished the evening playing board games- A confusing version of Monopoly where we had a separate board and cards from 2 different versions and made up the rules as we went. And the pie in the Face game, which Michael said was a "pointless" game. But we all took turns until everyone was creamed.

We had a great time together and I am really glad they were willing and able to come all the way North to spend this time with us.