Thankful

A wrench was thrown into our holiday plans and we weren't able to go to upstate NY for Thanksgiving. After a frustrating day of packing- and then unpacking- I was up to hit Whole Foods at 730 am the day before Thanksgiving to purchase a feast for 3. We have only half-way cooked a Thanksgiving dinner before, and that was 5 years ago the weekend before we were married, so I wasn't totally confident in how this would turn out.

                                                        






I realized that major holiday dinner prep is totally my thing, as it allows me to incorporate my love of planning, scheduling, outlining, and research into cooking!  With more time I would have gotten creative, or at least tried to re-create some of the LaFond family dishes, but with little notice, we decided to stick with the traditional basics.

22 hour brine!

One of the many full sticks of butter that went into our meal. And one of the many reasons I went for a 3 mile run in the bitter cold that morning!

'nog.

Epicurious app on the iPad vs. Joy of Cooking

so helpful!

Feast for 30 served to 3! Also- hooray for using our beautiful wedding china, including the crystal!

12 cups of homemade stuffing, anyone?

Tilly self-photo during dinner. She wanted to wear the shiny red holiday napkin as a bib.

Living apart from the majority of your family, and having only 1 bathroom, means you never get a holiday in your own house. Which means you don't get a chance to make your own traditions. We've been wanting to spend a holiday in our own space and just relax. While it wasn't an intentional Gillefond-only affair, it turned into an amazing 5 days. The time with Mathilda was fantastic and I am so thankful we got these quality moments with our little bear, who isn't so little anymore.

Touchdown! Tilly participates in the great American tradition of watching football pre-dinner.

Watching The Sound of Music. She started singing along. I started crying. And a new Gillefond holiday tradition was born!

Too much eggnog, perhaps? (her, not the photographer!)

The found time at home was not wasted. We finally got to do all of those things we've been wanting to do around the city. First! The public bus! Mathilda is really into buses and trucks so we took her for a ride on the bus. She was a bit scared initially, but then really excited. I think I may start taking her to daycare on the bus, which would be much more convenient than driving and illegally parking for the day at Home Depot.

Our friends Andrea & BJ and their 3 adorable kids were in town so we all got to go to the Children's Museum together.  Tilly loved the sand and water play rooms, and all of the interactive light and music displays.

I got to introduce Mathilda to the great Gillespie tradition of watching White Christmas. She loved it and kept asking for "more music!" She also loved dancing the waltz with Daddy (and Anna, of course).

On Saturday we ventured to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. I was wary that a) she may be afraid of the exhibits, and b) that it wouldn't hold her attention. Wow was I wrong! She loved it! And they have great interactive hands-on activities for kids, even as young as Mathilda.

showing Daddy the T-Rex room

Digging up "ninonaurs" in a hands-on kids paleontology exhibit.

"grand ephephant!" she told us. I love her Frenglish!

listening to bird calls

We rounded out the weekend decorating the house, and telling Mathilda all about Santa and Christmas trees. She was totally into it, and put most of the lower ornaments (with a bit of help) on the tree herself.

What began as a weekend of great disappointment ended as perhaps the best time our family has ever had together. We established new holiday traditions, and Mathilda seemed to just explode with her talking and singing (not to mention potty training- but that's for a separate post). I am so thankful for our life together. We have great friends and wonderful family, we are healthy, we have the gifts of education and culture, and we have fun together.  Mathilda, I'm sure, would like to add that she is thankful for Anna, Baby, raisins, cookies, fishies, books, Mimom, P-paw, Leah, Hannah, Oscar, school, Her French YouTube videos, playing Ring Around the Rosie, cooking, and her penguin hat.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love, The Gillefonds