Thanksgiving Weekend with my Nieces!

I'm joining with Amy (she's back!) at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday!

Five Things I Did with my Nieces on Thanksgiving Weekend.

1) We shopped!

On Thanksgiving, I was informed by the child to the left of this picture that she was going to wake  me up at 5:00 a.m. by knocking on the door, after first stopping for Dan's Donuts.  Well, her Mom (giving 'the look' to the right of the picture) woke up said child, and said child's cousin, at 7:00 a.m!  (teehee) 

 I did meet up with them later in the morning and we stood in line at one store for probably an hour!  Sarah and I were happy though...not like those first two in the above picture.

 2. We Crafted

After they put on their pj's....which let me just say if I had made those pj's for them, and gave them as a gift, they would have liked them as much as Ralphie liked his bunny rabbit pj's in A Christmas Story!  Anyway, they put on their pj's and we crafted.

 They made Christmas scenes in jars.  Then we went in to the basement and dug out three boxes of Christmas fabric...

We made a pattern, and they drew the triangles on the material.  I cute it out with pinking shears.  Then they handed me the material in the order they wished it to be sewn...

 and we made adorable Christmas bunting.

 

That was it for Friday.  It was a long day and they were tired, but I think we did something wrong with the couch/bed!

3) We baked cookies

The next day, Saturday, we got a bit of a late start.  We called Mom up and she came over and we made Christmas cookies.  Well, mostly I did dishes! 

 They made the cookies.

 Pumpkin spice, Sugar, Mexican Wedding Cakes, and M&M.  They are all yummy.

4) We went looking at lights

That evening we went to look at the lights.  We started out at the Seiberling Mansion.  After Santa arrived in a horse drawn carriage,

 and they thanked the proper people, everyone counted backwards from 10, and BAM!  On came all of these lights.

 After that we walked  toa friends open house.  I haven't been to Liz's for an open house since a couple of years before my friend Beth passed away, so it was a bittersweet moment.

 After that we went to the We CARE park.  If you've never seen the lights at this park, it's worth the visit. 

 It's an entire neighborhood of lights.  It's huge and FULL of lights...and Santa Claus...and hot chocolate...and a toy for children to get off of the rotating tree...it's just cool.

 This picture is a tradition.

And 5, we made posters!

 That evening I got a text from my sister.  She wanted to know if we could make posters for the parade tomorrow for the Noon Kiwanis. 
So the 5th thing I did with my nieces....

 and my Shug....

 We made posters for the parade.

TaDah!  The next day, Sunday, we did a little shopping and went to the parade. 
I LOVE A PARADE!  What about you?

Cindy

PS.  I thought you might enjoy the recipe for the pumpkin cookies.  They are really soft.

PPS...Click HERE to see what other bloggers have been up to.

The Seiberling Mansion

On Thanksgiving weekend, we had two of my nieces overnight to do our traditional We Care park tour.  This year, since they came on Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to go to the lighting ceremony of the Seiberling Mansion too.  Santa Claus always comes in on a horse drawn carriage.

And everyone counted down....10...9...8...7....6....5.....4...3...2 and

ONE!  TA DAAA!

There were three levels inside to tour.  The first floor had a band playing Christmas Carols.

Nice fake smile Sarah!  This would be my brother's child on the left, Sarah, and my sister's child on the right, Taylor.

Some rooms were set up as a museum with items made in Kokomo such as old stoves and Delco Radios.  Other rooms were set up as though they were still being used as bedrooms.

Every room in the house has a fireplace in it.

And the whole house was decorated for Christmas.

The third floor had the biggest village ever.

 

 There was a chorus of men singing Christmas songs on the third floor. 

After touring the Seiberling, you could go in the Elliot House, next door,

to visit Santa and his elves, and have some cookies and punch.  When we got there Santa was in the other room getting something to drink....

and when I was standing there taking a picture of his elves, I turned around and he was right there beside me!

One very special thing about the Seiberling mansion....these steps that my Shug and I are standing on right here....well those are the steps we got married on 20 years ago on New Years Eve.  Yup....that picture above where Taylor is running down the stairs.  Those would be the stairs I walked down to marry the love of my life.  awwwww......special.

 

 I didn't live far from this mansion when I was single, and my Shug and I would walk down here in the summer months and sit on the porch when it was closed like we lived here!  I love this place.

 

Advent Calendar gifts....

a photo holder, tj maxx gift card, and a vera bradley card holder.

I'm sure I've forgotten some things since I did not keep my promise to blog every day.

I'm preparing for Christmas Eve, and for once I have all of my Christmas presents wrapped, I have some sweet treats already made, and I'm preparing TODAY for tomorrow!!!

 I made these white chocolate pretzels...I had some of those silver dragees on them but I was afraid someone would bust a tooth.

 and some mini turtlettes.....they have one pecan, one piece of caramel and a dab of chocolate.  Just pop the whole thing in your mouth.  yum.  Aren't they cute?

And oatmeal scotchies for my Shug.  He loves them.  I'm also making other stuff.....but I don't have pics yet.  Maybe tomorrow....

Peace
Cindy Bee

(I edited this....it was too long, even for me)