For the first time in 25 years I didn't have to cook the turkey.  It was rather nice. :)  We traveled down to my sister's home for Thanksgiving Day.  Joel was already down there as he had been pheasant hunting with the Dickey guys out in South Dakota.  Sarah, Patrick, Rachel and baby Mark traveled over for the day. So with my mom, Mark's mom, Dawn's family and my dad and stepmom there were 20 of us.  It was a good day and we had a great time visiting with all.  The food was delicious and there was plenty!  Our family has so much to be thankful for our health, God's provision,family and friends.

Mark's mom and Joel returned home with us and the weekend found us shopping, decorating for Christmas, cooking and watching our annual Muppet's Christmas Carol.  Elizabeth, Joel and I with a good friend braved the shopping crowds on Friday morning.  We didn't go out until 8:00 am and the crowds weren't too bad.  Lunch at Olive Garden was fun and a nice break in our shopping.  We did find a few great buys and were home by 3:30 pm. 

We have about 1/2 our shopping done and are looking forward to Christmas and more time with family.  Wonderful memories!

I will attach a few pictures from the weekend and also a picture of our 20 year old oak table that Mark did a fantastic job of refinishing!  A picture of Noah with a new horse, Jay.  We will be picking him up next weekend and Noah is pretty excited.  Jay is a dressage horse and very sweet.  Noah said it was the nicest horse he had ever ridden!