Our Thanksgiving Holiday

Our son, DIL and 18-month old grandson from Southern California spent Thanksgiving week with us. It was the first time our Little Grandson (LG) had been to our home since he had been walking and I wondered what it would be like. I was very excited for their visit and had a wonderful time thinking of ways to make their stay special.

Since I knew they wouldn't be with us for Christmas, I put up a tree and brought out some festive decorations. To keep the tree simple and safe, I scattered giant pom pom yarn ornaments, clusters of various sized jingle bells, two handmade glitter ornaments and a snowman on the tree. The snowman would greet LG at eye level. As it turned out, they all loved the decorations and LG had a great time carrying around the snowman and using his pointer finger to jingle the bells on the tree. 

I found the little chair at a garage sale this summer. LG not only sat on the chair, but used its curved surfaces to drive his cars and trains on throughout the visit. 

The hutch was simply filled with silver, green trees and a Santa Claus figurine.

While I was decorating, memories of LG's daddy emerged as well: I remembered when our son received the soccer photo in his high school senior year with signatures of his teammates on it; his trophies that I spray painted; and his books. 

Dan and I had a ball shopping for LG. Since he would be coming from sunny California where he normally runs around barefoot and in his diaper (which is the cutest way to be), he would need to cover up and keep warm for the freezing temperatures in Indiana. We found this Thomas the Train hat, mittens and socks and Colts snowsuit for him to wear. Needless to say, LG looked adorable in the snowsuit and hat while he discovered our neighborhood and played in the leaves in our backyard. He loved watching the men work on the home that is being built next door.

I made a night light out of a glass block, cutting black vinyl with the Silhouette Cameo. Besides Thomas the Train, we knew that LG likes elephants too. I put out this collection of little resin bears I had saved over the years. He and I played peek a boo with the bears by hiding them behind the doors of this little wooden cabinet that our daughter played with when she was a child. 

We bought some toys for him. LG loved diving into and playing in the Mickey Mouse inflatable ball pit. We had no idea what a hit the ball thing would be not only for him but for the adults as well! He also enjoyed playing with letters and shapes on the magnetic board. 

We stocked up on some of his favorite foods before he arrived which he enjoyed.

For the Thanksgiving feast we had ten people including my mother and sister who came over from Cincinnati, two friends who recently moved to our area, and our daughter. We played Catch Phrase.

The visit ended too soon the day after Thanksgiving, but we have precious memories to hold dear to our hearts. It was fun to watch LG discover and play with things we had in our home: drawing with granddaddy's coffee cup full of pens and markers; tracing around the cup coasters; smelling the artificial flowers sitting on the ottoman, and patting my ceramic bull dog on the kitchen window seat. 

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you create any special memories during your Thanksgiving holiday this year?