Thanksgiving in Connecticut

Have I really not posted since early November?! Well I definitely have a lot to update about. Since things have been crazy for me lately, I'm going to update a little at a time to catch up instead of one big post. And to start: Thanksgiving

Grant didn't have much time off of work so we flew home to Connecticut the weekend before Thanksgiving. We got in on Thursday and Grant had to leave on Sunday, but I was actually able to stay until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (which was great, but I missed Grant).

But anyway, here's how our break was spent:

Thursday: We flew in around 5 and went to the Shake Shack with my mom and dad for dinner. It was delicious! When we got home we played a few games before calling it a night.

Friday: Grant and I spent the day in New York City. We caught a train that put us in to Grand Central around 10:30. We took the subway to Ground Zero to walk around the memorial, but unfortunately the inside was closed, so we could only walk around the outside. We headed over to Wall Street next because Grant really wanted to see everything over there and we got to hang out with the Occupy Wallstreet-ers.

After Wall Street, we took the subway up to Union Square--one of my favorite places in the city--to walk around the markets, eat, see some street performers, and enjoy downtown.

A few hours later we took the subway to Times Square, walked over to 5th Ave, and then walked up 5th Ave to the bottom of Central Park. We did this so we could see all the early Christmas decorations and window displays. It was a little too early for them all to be out, but it was still fun to see the majority of stores' displays.

Once we got to the bottom of the park, we crossed over to the West Side and continued walking up to the Museum of Natural History. Grant had never been before so it was cool to be able to show him around and look at everything--that museum is huge! I wish we could have also gone to the planetarium to see a show because they are amazing, but we didn't have time.

Instead we walked back to mid-town and met my parents at the temple in Lincoln Center and did a late session with their ward (well a few people from their ward). Afterward we grabbed dinner at a close cafe and then caught a ride home with them.

Saturday: We happily slept in, took Christmas card photos, ate a huge dinner, hung out with my family, and played lots of games. It was a perfect ending to the weekend.

Here's a few of the Christmas card photos we took. We ended up using the last one because it's just so cuuuuuuttteeeee (right?!) No, but really. I do love it--and I was very surprised that Grant let me use it! He's so picky!

 The rest are photos from the night we all hung out.

 Here I'm playing with my sister Courtney's massive puppy, Bernard. Yes, he's still a puppy.

 My gorgeous sister Courtney & Bernard

 We decided to have a little photo shoot

 Oh look! My mom is gorgeous too

 And my dad really likes his doughnuts :)

 And I really love this photo of Grant, but he hates it. Good thing he never looks at this blog!

 My brother Trevor

This is the only semi-normal one I could find of them

 My brother Brandon

 We played a lot of games

 Trevor wasn't very interested in the games though...

 I have no explanation.

 Bernard!

The whole family minus Andrea. The idea was that we'd take another family shot in the same place the next week and I'd photoshop Andrea in. But as all things end in the White family, this project didn't get finished.

Sunday was a sad day: Grant's flight left so early we had to wake up at 6:00 am to get him to the airport on time. My older brother and sister went back into NYC (where they live), and my other other sister hadn't come into town yet. So I spent the day napping, before and after church.

My sister Andrea got in on Monday and my other sister Courtney came home from the city on Tuesday to spend a couple of days with us. I don't remember the last time I was able to spend more than a day with Courtney, so it was great to have her around! My dad was working the whole week but he was able to make time for multiple dinners at Panera Bread, movies, and other outtings. My mom, sisters, and I spent time shopping and looking for boots for my mom, and playing lots of games. My brother Brandon came home from the city on Thursday and we celebrated Thanksgiving by making way too much food (that's how it's supposed to be right--right?).

 My sister Andrea. Gorgeous, right?!

 Making pies

 Dad, you look tired.

 Again, we played a lot of games :)

 My job: the table set up and decor

 We had SO much food

 It was delicious!

 Can't you see the resemblance? Actually I think the only way we look alike is we both have absolutely no upper lip

 This is our dog, Wolf. He's so great :)

 The cake that Andrea made

And of course, the post-dinner naps were taken: Brandon and Courtney on the couch with Bernard asleep under the table; Trevor asleep in the chair with Wolf passed out on the floor. 

On the day after Thanksgiving, I threw an early Christmas party/get-together for some friends I hadn't seen in a really long time. It was great to see them! My mom and sisters helped me make the food, and I set up downstairs for everyone. We talked, ate, played games, and enjoyed catching up with one another.

 The invitation I made and sent out

Can you read that? It says Festive Pretzels :)

 Christmas Trees!

 Reindeer Doughnuts

 Christmas Cakes

 Marshmallow Pops

 Jingle Bell Popcorn

 Reindeer Feed

 Drinks & stuff

 Hot Cocoa Mixings (Hot Cocoa and mugs are just to the left)

 Chase, Karyn, & Caitlin

 Jared, Kyle, & Katheryn

 Matty

 Chase making himself at home

 Awww we've been best friends since the womb...literally

 

 Love her!

 Love her!

 And love him! (Oh come on, he's my best friend!)

You might be thinking, "The day after Thanksgiving? Isn't that a little too early for a Christmas party?" Definitely not. Thanksgiving to me is not really a holiday worth celebrating, but Christmas on the other hand--well I like to get every last drop out of Christmas that I can. Which is why my family and I went to get our Christmas tree as soon as Thanksgiving was over! We went to Jones' Tree Farm, as we do every year, and picked out and cut down our own tree. I was really happy that we were able to do this, since Grant and I would be spending Christmas in Texas and I knew we weren't going to be cutting down our own tree there (and it's been a family tradition since I can remember). We spent the rest of the weekend decorating the house for Christmas while listening to Christmas music :) It was wonderful.

 Courtney, this should be your Christmas card photo next year!

 There's always someone not looking

 Running to correct my sister...we never did get the shot I wanted

 We picked a winner!

I forgot to mention how beautiful the weather was the entire time I was there! The sunsets were absolutely gorgeous and the days were sunny and crisp. Even though most of the leaves had fallen, I was still able to experience a little but of the wonderful Autumn weather. And because the weather was so nice, my sister Courtney and I hung outside one morning with Bernard. I also decided to take some pictures of my house, since I realized more than half of my really good friends have no idea what it looks like!

This was the view from our back porch every night

 It's unbelievable how high he can jump

 My dad's barn where he has his shop below and office and guest house up top.

 My house from the back. I really wish that van wasn't in the picture, but what can you do.

 Back of the house again, sans playground

 Front of the house

 Just enjoying the sunny morning

This was my read for the break. I'm going to make an effort to read this book at least once every two years, it really is so fantastic!

Monday my mom went off to work for a few hours and Andrea and I hung out together around the house. When my mom got off later, we all went to the animated movie Arthur Christmas, which was very cute! I thought it was really well done and definitely recommend it. That night I came home, packed up, and left for the airport around 4 in the morning. I got into Texas around noon and loved having the rest of the day to catch up on sleep and brush up on a few things before my very first day of work the next day--but that, of course, is a story for a different post :)