Thanksgiving down, Christmas to go

Brenna's first Thanksgiving has officially ended. We had 3 days of festivities.

Festive day #1: This took place at our house. Our original plan involved Doug's grandmother coming to visit and our meal being prepared by the local Village Inn (or other fine establishment open on turkey day.) That is not how it happened. The night before FD1 grandma calls and asks if it's ok if some more of Doug's family joins us as they haven't seen Brenna yet. She says that she will bring the food & be at our place about 1pm. OK, that only involved cleaning the house and a quick trip to the store for pre-dinner munchies and apple juice to mull with spices & wine. At 1:30 noone is at our house. Grandma calls, says she's running late. We assume that she has called other relatives as well. She arrives and says that since other relatives have not arrived they must not be coming. Terrific. My refrierator is filled with so many leftovers- they'll go bad before we can even get to them. Well, my house is clean, at least.

Festive day #2: This was at Doug's aunt & uncle's house, about an hour south of where we live. A nice, traditional Thanksgiving meal... turkey, veggies, stuffing, bear. Yep, bear. Doug's uncle is an avid hunter. It doesn't bother me since he uses every bit of everything he hunts. But, I didn't try the bear.

This day was tough on Brenna. She was handed around quite a bit. She doesn't mind strangers holding her and will only fuss if she's dirty or hungry. But there were quite a few younger children, so quite a bit of noise. Brenna was overstimulated and just shut down, which means she spent most of the night awake. Which I really wouldn't have minded except for...

Festive day #3: This was with my Dad's family. It involved a drive about 1 1/2 hours south of where we live. Which meant that by the time Brenna was finally sleeping soundly I had to get up and begin preparations to leave. Another large, traditional feast. Brenna was handed around and, because my aunt runs a daycare, the small children were happily playing in the basement. I vaguely remember handing Brenna to my aunt after she had been fed and changed, saying something like "She's awake & happy", before sitting in a very comfy recliner and falling asleep.

Which brings us to today. Today we are venturing into a mall. Ugh. I usually stay away from any shopping establishment during the weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I have no choice- Brenna's first professional photos are scheduled for today. The real plan is to have a family portrait taken. As I have not yet checked the circles under my eyes I am not sure if this is actually happening. It may just be Brenna. And, since we will be there, why not venture even deeper into the chasm of shopping fun and have our first visit with Santa?

Yes, why not?!?!