The Christmas countdown is on! I had a great week after Thanksgiving, last week! I have to say, happiness is being able to go to the temple the day after Black Friday, on a date with my husband, coming home, and seeing all the Thanksgiving decorations gone, with all the Christmas stuff up. That included the tree, fully decked out! Having kids at home who are old enough to help, not break anything, and are motivated to get through Saturday chores with the reward of being able to decorate for Christmas is wonderful! It’s like having little elves! I remember the old days when I did it all myself! Hang in there, young mamas, look forward to the day when the kids do it all! I love this stage!

Our Thanksgiving turkey was so yummy! This was my second year of doing it all by myself and having Thanksgiving with just my husband and most of my kids. I missed out on being with my parents, my firstborn,  some of my sibs, nieces, and nephews, at my parents’ new cabin in the mountains, but this turkey almost made up for it! I hope you plan on making it for Christmas. I used Tom Woods’ wife’s recipe. I didn’t have oranges though, I used lemons, and it still turned out great. I also used butter instead of oil because oil is not supposed to heated at high temperatures, according to cookbook author Rebecca Wood.