A Renaissance Christmas

Well, it wasn't exactly a Renaissance Christmas - it was just a bunch of booths and displays set up at the nearby Renaissance village. But it was something to do so we went!

First thing to do there - get some food! We had stew, which was super yummy, hot chocolate, and brownies.

We checked out some of the booths but there wasn't really anything that interested us.

We spent quite a bit of time huddled around the fire barrels because it was extremely cold!

And then we found the throne!!

We sat and listened to some carolers for a bit. Correction...Heidi, Ashlyn, and I sat and listened to some carolers. Everyone else bailed after about 5 minutes.

We wandered around for a bit looking at all the cool light displays.

Kellan and Noah found the lady of the lake holding Excalibur!

Finally, a cool dragon display!

And then we were done! One last picture of the kids before heading out.

Bring on December!

Family time watching footall or movies!

Feeling festive!

The first snow!

Cuddle time with Cleo!

Winning a pizza party at work for best record of collecting copays...

and continuing to endure the wackiest Covid requirements! The shield lasted a day, thank goodness!

This face!

Our little snowman!

Sisters!

A Pandemic Thanksgiving

The joys of Covid are still raging! After being told all summer that if we got together with friends we would kill grandma, we entered the holiday season with the government insisting that no one should be holding gatherings of more than 10 people. In some states local leaders even threatened arrest of those who didn't comply. Well, our family has always loved freedom and the ability to choose how to live our lives and what risks we want to take and we decided the government could take their big fat nose out of our business! We are so grateful to live in this great country and for the Constitution - what an inspired document! At this holiday of thanksgiving, we are especially grateful for the rights and freedoms guaranteed to each of us, including the right of assembly and association specifically protected in the First Ammendment. America has been through many other tough times and medical epidemics and the Constitution is not suspended for those things, thank goodness. The Supreme Court long ago confirmed: The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances." Using this as our guide, we enjoyed our Thanksgiving gathering of more than 10 people immensely! 

There's nothing better than being with family!

These two are too much!

Lots of cooking going on,

talking,

and wrestling, of course!

We had two different turkeys this year - Ryan wrapped his in bacon and air fried it;

we also did our traditional turkey. Both were delicious!

And of course there was lots and lots of martinellis!

Skoal!

Heidi had everything looking so beautiful.

Lots of silliness when I'm trying to take a picture.

A close up of what was causing all the laughter - Bryan's spot on imitation of Joe Biden.

The giggles died down long enough for me to grab this cute picture!

Loading our plates!

The adult table...

and the cousin table plus one, ha ha!

So grateful for my dad! (Oh, Bryan!!)

Mom and Dad were so sweet and got all the kids advent calendars to kick off December.

Always being goofy, even while saying goodbye.

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had!