Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Jonathan and I got up bright and early (he with the girls, and me shortly after). Then we got right to breakfast and dinner preparations. Breakfast was finished, the coffee was brewed, turkey was in the oven, and Nonna and Papa arrived-all before Lily woke up at 8:45.
We were also joined by Uncle James and Auntie Dawn from New Jersey and Auntie Laura, Uncle Nick and Bridget.
Lily took a nice 3-hour nap while the ladies finished making dinner and while all of us feasted on turkey and sides. We were even able to clean up a bit before dessert.

The girls didn't eat as much as we would have liked. They were very excited to have so many people over though.
After dessert we attempted a family portrait, followed by a picture of Nonna and her four granddaughters. Let's just say I have a lot of "takes" for each picture.

Finally, since James and Dawn made the trip, they decided to bring a few Christmas gifts along with them. One of my family's traditions is to draw names and make a gift for that person rather than buy one. Since Jonathan and Dawn joined our family I think I can safely say that we all look forward to when they draw our names (they both have experience in various fine arts). I lucked out this year-Dawn drew my name. Check out what she made for me:

We had a version of a "dog house" growing up, so I really got a kick out of the one Dawn made for our family. She had great attention to detail ("Jonathan" is wearing glasses and "Abigail's" bow and collar is pink-her favorite color).

We had such a great Thanksgiving and hope you did as well!