Holiday happenings

We're coming off of a long, busy holiday weekend. On Thursday, Ma Jane treated the whole clan (seriously, look at this crowd) for a fancy Thanksgiving meal -- also (accurately) described by Caitlyn as "a feast with our cousins."

For the first time, Caitlyn went to town on the traditional fare, especially the mashed potatoes and pumpkin cake. Nathan munched on some crackers before lunch began and then spent the two-hour meal playing and socializing and completely missing the aforementioned feast. When we put him in the car to go home, he asked, "How about a snack, Mommy?"

Friday we celebrated Thanksgiving, part II (this time over steak) with the Mellmans in Bethesda, Md. And then Saturday, we switched gears -- and holidays -- and focused our attention on Christmas. We joined Grandma and Pop to hunt for Christmas trees (the tree-cutting supervisors are seen below).

And then we spent the rest of the weekend decorating everything (even Vixey, who begrudgingly wore reindeer antlers at times) and making Advent crafts at church and watching a Rudolf movie and dancing to Christmas music.