We had a nice Thanksgiving.

We didn't travel this year -- it's the first Thanksgiving we've spent at home, ever.

We had neighbors over (and their two children too) for lunch. I admit -- I ordered a pre-cooked turkey breast and a couple of side dishes. Todd made sweet potato casserole. I made cheese cake pumpkin pie. Our neighbors brought mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pie too! We ALL ate more than we should've, but it was oh so good.

We didn't have anything "festive" for the table -- so I bought two packs of cloth napkins in gold and cayenne and used some to drape the table, some to use as napkins. The dining room was totally transformed for 20 bucks. (I already had the glass pumpkins; I got the napkins to match them.) At each end of the table sat their kids (they ate off of plastic -- but it went with the china we used). Mercer drank a bottle, then played in the dining room in his exersaucer and ate some sweet potato puffs.

After our guests went home, Todd and I walked up to the square. The weather was gorgeous (in the 60s). This is the first time I have walked all the way to the square in a long time -- since before the surgery. (I only got clearance Oct 31st... and since then Mercer was sick / I was sick / the weather's been bad.) It was GREAT going up there. We love our square!!

On the way up, we stopped at a home-town bank for a photo that I've been wanting to get for awhile. Mercer in front of a chicken sculpture. There was a fund-raiser for a local organization that had artists decorate the "Little Chicks of Marietta" (much like the Cows on Parade event that was up in NYC, Chicago, and Atlanta). This is modeled after the Big Chicken -- a 4 story KFC which is "historic" and serves as a local landmark here. This is one of my favorite Chicks b/c it speaks to an industry that was prevalent in Marietta during the war: building bombers at Lockeed-Martin.

We continued up to the square. It was empty. No businesses were open... and there were only a handful of people up there. We took some cute pictures of M on the train that's usually swarming with kids. They usually crawl all over it. But - we had free-reign of the train. Check out these great photos!

We rounded out the day by feeding Mercer his "Thanksgiving Dinner." (Earth's Best Vegetable Turkey Dinner.) He only ate half of a jar of the baby food, but at least he got to partake in the festivities sort of. It was a nice Thanksgiving, indeed.

Mercer woke up this morning around 4:45... I laid in bed for awhile, then just decided -- what the heck -- I'll go shopping. Places were open early. I completely steered clear of the mall, so the store I went to really weren't that crowded. There was one line I stood in (with about 10 other people) at 7 am. World Market had chances for the first 100 people at each location to get a game piece for a National Wildlife Expedition (valued at $20,000 each). That's really what got me up and out shopping. Just the chance to win one of the three trips they were offering(I was laying in bed calculating the numbers -- the odds were less than 1 in 10,000.)

Oh well. we didn't win. I did get a nice blown glass ornament, though as a "parting gift."

I had some time to kill before World Market opened. I went to a neighboring store / wandered around / found all sorts of great things for our nieces and nephews. I made a rookie mistake (first time at home for Thanksgiving... first time at home to shop on Black Friday): I hadn't planned on going to that store / I had to go back home... grab my coupon / go back out to the store... but it was worth it. I got probably 1/2 of my shopping done at this one store. yay!