Sunday at the Simmons: From one extreme to the other and thankfully so

Last week's post was pretty boring as well as kind of a downer, so I will try to make up for it this week. It's been great having a few days off work and getting some things done. Wednesday I cooked my first turkey and made the pies. (My theory is that there is never enough turkey!)

Thanksgiving morning began with the traditional Turkey Trot, with a few less family members than usual participating. My job is to take pictures of the finish, which I accomplished, freezing my toes off in the process. The original plan was that Amie would run the 10K, while Rory, Sophie and Tasha would do the 2K. Somehow, Tasha and the kids ended up in the wrong group and ran the 5K, much to Sophie's chagrin! But, she finished and I think she was impressed with herself.

Then it was home to get the remaining dishes ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We had our family, along with Brian and Tasha, 17 all together. I made some photo props for the celebration.....Everyone humored me and tried them out!

Dinner was as fabulous as it could have been, and I'm fairly certain that everyone got adequately fed. Afterwards the girls (Carrie, Mer and Tasha) started a puzzle while some of took a much needed walk....Later we played "Catch Phrase" with the boys vs the girls. Lots of laughs!
Friday was a clean up day, finally completing all of the dishes (I'm now very thankful for that new dishwasher that we had to buy when our old one went kaput...). Next it was time to take down the Thanksgiving decor and start the Christmas decorating. Funny thing this year, we had packed and sorted everything, thinking we'd be moved by now. Had a difficult time finding stuff (and annoyed once again by what I sold at the garage sale that I could really use now....like lights! Brad then had to go to Wal Mart (twice) to purchase outdoor lights. When we finally got started, I asked Rory to come help which he did. About half way through the project, Brad noted that he had started the lights with the plug at the wrong end. His solution? Cut off the plug and reattach it to the right end. My solution? Move the lights. Rory and I got a few laughs, Rory trying hard not to fall off the ladder laughing!

Saturday morning as we were lounging around with coffee, I got a text requesting a showing of the house at 12:30. OMG! There was Christmas stuff everywhere, boxes, bags, etc. (I was halfway through the decorating) so Brad and I literally RAN our butts off trying to get the place looking like it had not been hit by a tornado and then,,,,,at 12:00 another text saying they were cancelling. OMG2! I'm not sure inconsiderate really tells the story...Anyway, I finished the decorating that evening, coming up with a "Frozen" theme for the tree (that based on the lights I found in the basement!)