Minnie in a ridiculously cute chair.

Minnie's Aunt Jen and Uncle Maurice sent her this adorable and ridiculous and ridiculously adorable chair yesterday, and all I did was take pictures of Minnie reclining in it.

And then I put her in the sink to put my makeup on

And she un-swaddled her arms to bash herself in the face and take an 18-minute nap.

I also spent much of yesterday stewing about the enormous amount of work I have to do to prepare for the spring semester and my almost completely depleted capacity for doing the sort of work that requires deep thought. Expect more about that, you lucky readers.
 

Christmas intentions

 I want to set intentions for this season because the fourth trimester has ended, and I need to get back into my health and fitness routine and make more space for work. I thought that NaBlo would help with the latter, but we all know I have been faking this thing. So, here are my daily practices for this season:

1.100 crunches everyday (I started this on Friday, and I can feel my abs again! And they hurt)

2. Yoga everyday (maybe this will be a video of some sort-- maybe it is just a couple of sun salutes-- whatever works)

3. No snacking after dinner (a hard one, to be sure)

4. All spring class prep done before the semester ends (SOUNDS IMPOSSIBLE)

5. Read. EVERYDAY. (I am slipping out of this habit, and it is making me sad)

6. Watch at least 14 terrible holiday movies on Netflix (or another streaming service-- this does not count my usual holiday faves, and Netflix is really the best becauee they HAVE SO MANY GENRES.

Here's a baby tax: Minnie helping me grocery shop:

It's beginning to look a lot like...

 Our Christmas tree farm was awesome. They had TONS of staff working (all masked, natch), and they set up an outdoor pay station. We were in and out with a tree, a tiny tree, and a bunch of branches in less than 15 minutes. AND IT WAS STILL MERRY AF.

SEE? LOOK HOW MERRY!

Also merry

I LOVE these antique ornaments from Ben's fmaily

Harry can reach the whole tree!

More antique ornaments

I got a teeny tree for the front door. I don;t know why. I guess the better question is WHY NOT?

The kids hung these ornaments for Beatrix (the ball says world's greatest dog)

The Santa pics are my forever favorite.

Also the hallway is darling, and of course I WISH WE HAD A FIRE PLACE.

We got a pre-cut tree and still did not notice the weird scraggly side util we got it home.

I love needle-sweeping season!!

Minnie's first Thanksgiving

We started the day with mandatory crafts:

Since the pandemic began. we have clearly let Dorothy go feral.

Minnie wore Dorothy's Thanksgiving dress

We middled the day with crafts as well.

We Zoomed with family

Used a baby nose sucker as a turkey thermometer (UNUSED AS A NOSE SUCKER I feel compelled to explain).

Dorothy made a turkey hat for Min.

More Zoom!

Nailed the camera timer I must say

I loved these Target placemats so much.

Also Cooper's art.

Clearly hand turkeys were mandatory.

We ended the night with Minnie's first family movie night-- Home Alone.

We missed everyone, of course, but the food was great. I got mildly drunk on champagne at 3 pm. My cheesecake was perfect. What more could we ask for??
 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 I am overwhelmingly grateful this year. I mean, the world is falling apart, but MY HOUSE is fine. Isn't that the attitude we're being told to have? Big yikes. Hygge WITH the xenophobic nationalism.

Seriously, though, I am grateful for my health and family and the impossible sweetness of Minnie. But also, the world is in shambles, and it's a not great message to tell everyone to focus on the good inside their own homes at the exclusion of everything else.  But maybe just for a day?

The kids and I looked back through all of their first Thanksgivings today:

Harry's in 2006

Jack's in 2008

Cooper's in 2011

Dorothy's in 2013

I should note that they did not recognize young and pretty me. THE ASSHOLES.

Selfishly (really how is all gratitude not selfish today?), I am glad this year is so different because my grandma's house is just a memory now, and my dad is still gone. If things were normal, I personally would be so much sadder. In some ways, it comforts me that we have apocalypse Thanksgiving because I miss Bomma and Jack and their house and my dad so much today.

We had a wonderful time cooking and prepping yesterday, and Jack was so, so helpful. I was overwhelmed with all of the tasks, so instead of being all shitty to everyone, I made everyone help all day long, and it was EASIER and MORE FUN with the kids. Weird. Jack even said he will come home from college EARLY to help me cook. So, so, so sweet.

But! Onward with turkey headbands and dinner crafts and Thanksgiving dresses passed between sisters, and THREE DESSERTS.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

Darn it-- I wrote this on the actual 25th but didn't hit publish.

I could not love this little spitter more.

Also her sister, all dressed up for the first snow!! (slush)

We played nailed it on Facebook with a big group, and it was SO FUN! The kids were 100% all in.

A little powdered sugar on the bebe

We only had 90 minutes for the challenge, so I evicted the freezer and let the cakes cool in there

What we made:

What we were trying to make:

The cream cheese in the middle seemed to work way better to stick the layers together-- will try this when I make my next cake.

OH MY GOD THE OLD MAN HAIR.