30 days of thanks!

What better way to get back into blogging than quick posts about what we are thankful for? Since it is 3 days into November, I am going to combine the first three days into one post. This is very easy...I am thankful for Jon, Catie and Tommy!

I love my family!

I Give You the McDesi Family Tree

"Dad, this tree won't fit in our back yard."
"It's not going in the yard, Russ. It's going in the living room."
 - Christmas Vacation

You can't go cut down a Christmas tree without thinking of Clark Griswold.  As the McDesi's trekked out to Gaver's Farm, we looked for a smaller tree, and hopefully one without a squirrel.

We started out the day doing a little tree cutting "tail-gating" courtesy of my sis-in-law Cindy featuring coffee, doughnuts, and cookies.  As we took part in the festivities, we got the cousins together for their first of many photos on the day.

After our bellies were full of sweets and veins full of caffeine, we all took off to the trail to find a Christmas tree.  After finding ones that were too tall, too short, had a bare patch, had a brown patch, we found the McDesi family tree.  I settled down and wielded my saw as Mary and Catie watched.

As I got to work, it turned out the saw I brought was not really made for cutting down a tree.  Each minute I laid there sawing making little progress, I could feel my man-card laughing at me. Finally, Chip came by to let me borrow his saw.  With the right tool, the tree came down and onto the wagon as my manhood was restored.

As we gathered back together with our trees, the girls were gathered for some more photos.

And we decided to pose for some pictures as well.

After the photos were all taken, we trekked back to the farmhouse to get our tree wrapped up and paid for.  The girls were again gathered for their last set of group photos on the day.

Now with the McDesi family tree in hand, we begin to decorate.  That is the next post.

Festival of Trees

The Timonium Fairgrounds was the home for many Beer, Bourbon, & BBQ festivals and Oktoberfests.  However, the weekend after Thanksgiving, it hosts a more kid-friendly event, the Festival of Trees.  It was the official start to the Christmas season.  Catie was excited to show of her snowman outfit to Carley and Robin.

There was big set of toy trains which the kids were mesmerized by.

Then they got to ride in one.

Catie was a little jealous that she could not ride the train with her cousins so Mary took her onto the carousel with Cindy and Robin.

We took a break from the rides to make sure letters got mailed to Santa.

Finally, we took a stroll around to look at all the different trees...

And the gingerbread houses.

It was a great way to kick off the Christmas season!  Next, we get our Christmas tree.

Thanksgiving

Although Christmas is right around he corner, we need to post about Catie's first Thanksgiving.  Since Mary was not working this Thanksgiving, we were able to host it for the first time at our new house.  Also, Catie was had started to eat more solid foods and we were excited that we would be able to give her some of the bird.

Because of the number of kids this year, we introduced the "kids table," the place we probably all had eaten at in our early years.

Catie had some bird that was masterfully cooked.

Afterwards, Catie showed off her toys to the big kids.

Then a big kid showed off his new toy to Catie.

Ron: "you can post to facebook from the phone"

Cate: "I bet that tastes better than the turkey"

Catie wanted to see what the whole wishbone thing was all about.  She decided to let her cousins play.  It was Carley versus the 2 year-olds, Robin and Paul.

And later that night while the adults were watching the Ravens take on the 49ers, the kids huddled around the portable DVD player to watch The Lion King.

It was a fun Thanksgiving made better by the Ravens winning.

Coming next, Christmas decorating and a visit with Santa.