I love Thanksgiving. I love the tradition. I love getting together with family. I love the food. I love the leftovers. Sadly, we don't often get to enjoy the yumminess of leftover turkey sandwiches the day after Thanksgiving, because we don't host Thanksgiving at our own home. To remedy this & to provide an opportunity to celebrate with our friends, we started a new tradition when we moved into our home: Thanksmas Swap. It's a combination of Thanksgiving & Christmas (or other December holidays), & has become one tradition I cherish the most. We have such dear friends, & it's an amazing thing to be able to celebrate the wonderful moments of a year gone by with some of the people who have been a great part of it.
Our event is not really designed for kids, & most of our friends that attend don't have kids. However, you do enjoy a fun party & we like to include you until it's bedtime. As our guests arrived, you were thrilled to welcome them & even receive your very first Christmas gifts of the year. Your favorite? A Princess Sofia costume (that you immediately put on & refused to take off for 48 hours until I had to wrestle it off you to get you into the bath).
You also gave gifts.
Board games are typically a part of our late night party activities, but you & some of our friends got the night started with Hello Kitty Bingo & the LadyBug Game.
When the games were done (you told me that you won because it was your "special day" & you got unlimited rolls of the die), we shared a fun & yummy dinner with all our friends.
This year we added an Ugly Sweater component to our party, & you were excited to take pictures with our crowned winner before bedtime. Then we took pictures of all the ugly, festive sweaters.
Sadly, you were carried up to bed before it was time for Yankee Swap. While you would have enjoyed helping others open your gifts, the gifts haven't always been appropriate in nature. So, you said your goodnights, & the competitive swap began.
We had some really interesting gifts this year.
After everyone had their gifts in hand...for better or for worse...we all sat around our dining room table & played some hilarious board games. It was such a fun night & so wonderful to catch up & celebrate with some of the most amazing friends, near & far. I'm so thankful for everyone of them & wish them love & joy this holiday season.
I was also thankful for the leftovers. We'll be eating turkey sandwiches for weeks...& I'm going to love every bite.
I love you so,
Mommy
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