'Tis the Season

I did it. I waited until after Thanksgiving to pull out the Christmas decorations. It was more by necessity than by will power though. We have been so busy ever since we got back from Thailand, there was no time for decorating! Now there are only three weeks until we fly to Utah for the holidays. As I started putting the tree up and Jadyn started pulling it down, I wondered if I really wanted to do this.

Now that everything is up, I am happy we decorated. It already feels more like Christmas than it did 36 hours ago.

Last week Cody was back in Thailand for another conference/training. That left me home with Jadyn for Thanksgiving. We opted to hold our feast on Saturday so we could gorge ourselves together as a family. I had mentally prepared myself to hold out for it and not let myself feel down or homesick. Fortunately enough, the Jensen's invited us over to their family dinner, so we weren't without on the actual holiday. We had more than a great time sharing in the Jensen's festivities.

Then we had the opportunity to reciprocate their kindness by having them at our belated feast. I love double dipping when it comes to holidays! We also had our friends, the Cruz's over. I was so distracted by the amazingly good time we were having, I didn't even think to take pictures (the one above is stolen from the Jensen's blog--I'm getting good at that). So this is all I have for you: pictures of the left over pies. Pumpkin Chiffon Pie (with ginger snap crust) and Decadent Chocolate Pecan Tart. I wanted to try a little twist on the old favorites. Cody is still a fan of the traditional pies. I think I like the new pumpkin version better, but the traditional pecan version.

I was actually pretty excited to make the entire feast (minus the precooked turkey and gravy I ordered through Taipei American School); especially after I literally wasn't able to last year.

After days of cooking and then hours of cleaning up, I must pause to ask myself: was it worth it? I've concluded absolutely, hands-down, will for sure do it again, YES it was! Just seeing how happy and satisfied Cody was made it all worth it. I loved being able to make it a good holiday for him. I am so thankful for HIM!