'Tis the Holiday Season!

So Thanksgiving already came and went....but of course I held onto every minute. My whole family was together, we had delicious food, we watched Christmas movies, shopped, laughed, and it even snowed! 

It all started with a pumpkin pie on the Monday before Thanksgiving. Mom made a pie just for the two of us (Dad was away on a trip)! This was the only regular pumpkin pie (regular meaning not fancy) I had this year so it was extra special!

In a previous blog I reminisced about my Mom making french baguette on snowy days when I was a kid. And when I arrived at my parents house on Thanksgiving morning Mom had hot baguette and coffee (in cute new Starbucks mugs) waiting for me. She does listen when I talk...sometimes!

The view from our dinner table was my parents snow covered deck, who doesn't love some snow on any holiday? For reasons unknown to most this isn't technically the first snowfall this year (it only counts when I'm in Philly).

I can't believe it but we didn't take any pictures of ourselves at our Thanksgiving this year. I only snapped this one of our guests, but obviously they weren't ready for it! I hope that means we forgot because we were too wrapped up in each others company.

After our delicious meal we set up to make gingerbread houses! When my sisters and I were kids we would get together with close family friends and their kids to have a gingerbread house party. I remember being so excited about this day because we got to drink Coke with Santa on the bottle and eat unlimited amounts of candy! I'm sure I was more interested in stuffing my face with as much junk as I could find, forgetting about being crafty (I was a very junk food deprived child)! After singing along to Christmas music and decorating our houses, we would have the white elephant gift exchange - any time I've played this game since I was a kid, it has reminded me of this party. This is one of the memories that makes me love Christmas time.

This year little sis when a little crazy and bought tons of candy. We laid it all out and went to town on our own houses. To make it more interesting I suggested that it be a competition (if you know my sisters, you know that they love a good challenge!). Since Mom and Dad knew which house belonged to each of us, they couldn't judge, so we sent picture texts of our houses to friends and boyfriends :) Guess who won?

 Big Sis

 Little Sis

Me!

Yes, you guessed right, I WON! Just kidding, I am proud to say that I did not yell that or jump up and down with excitement when my sisters lost. But anyone who knows me, also knows that I don't typically jump up and down with excitement (unless its for a Lawrence brother). I know my sisters would both admit that if they won, that's exactly what they would be doing (I love you guys, but you know its true). Just remember that next time girls (eh hem, pickle)! And yes, that is a knife sticking out of little sis' house, she got just a little frustrated....perfectionist? I don't think so ;)
On Black Friday we ripped ourselves out of bed to go shopping at 10:30 am, came back home for a third Thanksgiving meal, and then headed to NYC to spend some time in Big Sis' neighborhood. It was a quiet evening, we walked through town, enjoying the Christmas decorations before having dinner in the West Village. My favorite stop was at the Plaza Hotel, this place defines romance and class in New York City. A girl can only dream...