Life As A Moore...: Happy Thanksgiving!

First of all, can I just say...how on earth are we already counting down to Christmas?! It feels like the last month absolutely flew by! Sam is almost 18 months old, Olivia's 3rd birthday in Heaven is just around the corner, and we'll be flying home to Indy before we know it for the first visit in over a year!

With that being said, we had a great Thanksgiving -- I hope everyone else did too! We made a meal big enough to result in leftovers for a week, we relaxed and enjoyed James being home (after 5 weeks in the field), and talked about all that we're thankful for. Oh, and we joined in on the Black Friday madness...starting at noon on Friday after all the crazies were back in bed recovering from a night of door buster deals. Who doesn't love a good sale!?

I can't even describe to you the joy it brings having Sam here -- especially during the holidays. While decorating the house with our Christmas decor, it brought on feelings of sadness as I unwrapped various ornaments for Jacob, Jordan, and Olivia. But then as I unwrapped Samuel's ornaments, it brought on a big smile. Talk about mixed emotions! The holidays will always be bittersweet. There will always be three stockings that remain empty. BUT...thankfully, unlike years past, there will also always be one stocking loaded to the brim -- Samuel's.

I'm excited to be able to celebrate our second Christmas with Samuel in our arms, just as it was fun celebrating Thanksgiving with him again this year -- never mind the fact that he passed out before dinner was done and didn't wake up until after we were finished putting it all away. The sweet boy.

This is my favorite time of the year and to be able to celebrate it all with our little family makes it that much better.

Annnnnd so....the time has come. I can't end this without sharing pictures, so here are a few from the last week.

Our Thanksgiving -- football, food, and a sleeping boy...

It's a rare moment when he's actually still, so when it happens, I try to take every advantage of it and cuddle with him...

Oh, and here he is after breakfast earlier that day in his little tie. A friend commented on him looking like Rodney Dangerfield. Ha! Love it!

While I need to get some better pics with our real camera, here are a few of Samuel and the Christmas decor. He's in LOVE with his singing basset from Hallmark that he received last year...

Here's our tree designated just for our 3 angels - Jacob, Jordan, and Olivia. In the past, we always put their ornaments on our big tree, but this year decided to give them their own. And since we ordered new monogrammed stockings for the whole family this year, we put their old stockings on this tree as well...

And a blurry cell phone attempt of our mantel. Now if it would actually get cold enough for us to use the fire place, I'd be in Heaven! I would love to be able to listen to Bing Crosby sing, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" and not step out into 75+ degree weather outside. Such is life in El Paso, I suppose...

Oh and I think I forgot to mention, we drove up to Ruidoso for a little day-trip over the long holiday weekend and checked out that cute town. It was so nice to be able to get away to a place with pine trees, grass, etc. Living in the desert has really made me homesick for WA, and while this was definitely not WA, it was close enough. The best part of it though was being able to get some family pictures! Our version of family pictures typically includes a tripod and self-timer. I know. I'm cheap. BUT...I think they turned out alright. (It's just too bad Obadiah isn't in any of them!) In fact, I used two for our Christmas cards this year. Ultimately, I couldn't decide which one to use, so I made two different cards and it will just be a surprise as to which one people receive. Ha.

Here are a few photos from that attempted photo session...