A stress-free Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year....we stayed home and enjoyed the day with no dishes or preparation. I've been joking all year that we'd go to a buffet for Thanksgiving since I wasn't going to cook a turkey while taking care of two babies. Turns out my buffet idea was brilliant. :) And that's what we did. 

The day started out with a foggy game of turkey bowl.  Jeff played quarterback and of course led his team to victory.

Brielle and I were the only cheerleaders. We both cheered and froze.

My Dad, Mom and Clarie came up to join us for the day.  My mom was gone earlier in the week attending my cousin Jacey's wedding in Utah (yay Jacey!!) so they wanted to have a low-key Thanksgiving too.  It worked out great! We took them on an afternoon hike in the pretty woods near our place.

The hike follows the old coal mines and we enjoyed some history.

Of course afterwards we took them to our favorite lookout. We take everyone there who comes to visit! What a view!

Then it was time to stuff ourselves.  I was excited:

Turned out, lots of people had the same idea we did.  We had to wait in line to get seated.

Brielle made a friend while waiting in line and stole her ice cream cone.

Let the gobbling begin! Here's our girls.  It was a circus getting them fed and happy while also stuffing ourselves.  Not to mention the mess of food below Brielle's high chair. Jeff and I have decided that eating out at restaurants is going to be banned for a while.

They had all sorts of food...all the typical Thanksgiving food, and so much more! Not only did we get to eat turkey, but we ate ham, steak, fish and chicken as well! We got ice cream and macaroni and slurpees and corn bread and salads and on and on.  It was fun to eat at a buffet and try all different kinds of food.  The only downside was we didn't get any leftovers and we didn't get a nice good Thanksgiving prayer before we eat.  That's what I missed.

I photo-bombed this cute picture of my parents.  I wish I hadn't cause it's really cute.  It was Rosalyn's idea.

Jeff and his little turkey.

After dinner, since we were in the mall, Claire and I went in the hurricane simulator.  It turned out to be a dud, but was a fun memory.

Of course we played our traditional Bates Bingo.  Here's Jeff wearing some of his prizes:

My parents went home and Claire stayed the weekend with us.  So fun to have her around! She helped me get all my Christmas decorations up. And we went to the opening Christmas parade.  We got free hot chocolate, cookies, and saw Santa.  What more do you need?

It was a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving.  It was perfect for our situation this year and I loved it.