I’m not going to lie, I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving. I feel very meh about all the traditional food (except for pie #teampie) and if we aren’t going anywhere I end up doing A LOT of work for people who also feel very meh about the food. It ends up being much more about the tradition of making the food – being in the kitchen, letting the kids help, timing everything perfectly – than the actual food.

This was the first year I enjoyed having the kids participate in the cooking. I really WANT them to have good holiday memories of togetherness in the kitchen but sometimes I just want to pour a cup of flour without anyone dumping half of it on the floor. I am TRYING. I am allowing the floor to be flour-covered and the pie to be over-cinnamoned and my patience to be stretched thin in the hopes that they will one day face the same thing with their children and realize “Wow, my mother really loved me.”

In the spirit of accepting that the holidays don’t have to be perfect to be special, here are some photos from our Thanksgiving weekend. We went full Christmas on Black Friday – tree shopping trumps gift shopping – although I’m not happy with my current decorations. Caroline’s mermaid birthday is clashing with my previous princess/woodland fairy themes. I need a LOT more silver and pink. But in the meantime, enjoy pictures of dirty dishes instead.

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