The most delicious Friendsgiving of all

When trying to decide what exactly to do about Thanksgiving this year (since it fell on a day where Ty was at his mom's house this year), we could all agree on one thing: we wanted to have a Thanksgiving meal all together. There are certain expectations however, like any other holiday, do have a big to-do with the whole family ... on both sides (Ty's mom's and ours). Should we make an additional turkey dinner for four?

Then while talking to my girlfriend, she divulged that she might not be able to travel home to see her family for Thanksgiving. A light bulb went off: why don't we have a Friendsgiving?

As the ideas started to percolate, we assigned dishes to make it kind of a pot-luck. I was hosting at my house, so it only made sense for me to do turkey, gravy and desserts! In addition, we also had a ham, potatoes, beats, broccoli casserole, and well, the brussel sprouts never made it ... but that's neither here nor there.

This was my first time making turkey, and my first Friendsgiving, but everything went off without a hitch. I decorated the table with a pumpkin that I carved out to house the flowers, and folded the napkins like turkeys. The turkey was moist and done to perfection, and the desserts included a piping hot apple crisp and little turkey cupcakes that the kids loved.

Why, you may ask, will we be turning this into a tradition? For me there were two things: first off to have a mix of different people's dishes at Thanksgiving was incredible, especially since we all ended up having separate family Thanksgivings with the usual fixings. Second, to have all the people that Ty loves the most sitting at one table, including all of his parents and his best friend, brings me so much joy I can't even put it into words.

A little family apple-picking fun!

When I was a kid, Fall was my favourite time of the year (besides Christmas and my birthday, of course). The return to school to reunite with friends, mixed with the privilege of sporting new back-to-school sweaters was always exciting. But what made fall really special were the beautiful, sunny weekends where the whole family would throw on their windbreakers and do something outside, together.

"Apples right from the tree are the most delicious!" - Ty

Last week Ty brought home a library book from the school about some guinea pig who wanted to pick apples. It got me thinking, so we decided to make a day of it!
We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather, and we were on a mission: to collect apples for Grandma. The whole activity took less than an hour, including the hay ride to and from the main shack (way shorter than I remember it being), and it was super affordable. The best part was really that Ty kept asking if he could have more apples, and never had to say no!
Log Cabin Orchard was beautiful - with nice short trees for kids - and I would recommend it to anyone. We will be going back to visit next year.

Let's just call this post "The Haircut"

Last Sunday everything started off normally for me, a step-mommy: it was Ty's weekend at his mom's house, so I slept in and started doing some housework. The prospect of taking Ty back for the evening as a favour had already been brought to my attention, so it was no surprise when I got the call saying that Ty would be home in about an hour ... but then those daunting words followed, "and don't forget that tomorrow's picture day, I wish I would have gotten him a haircut."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Sunday afternoon ... hubby is out with the car ... not enough time to get a haircut ... so I started to charge the clippers. After all, how hard can it be?

I get a garbage bag and rip a hole in the top, I say, "put this on," and he replies, "you're joking, right?" Nope, I wasn't joking. Moments later he was standing in the hallway yelling, "AS IF I'M WEARING A GARBAGE BAG!"

He says to me, "well, if I'm good for the haircut can I have a freezy?" I'm not really one for bribery but I figured why not. So it began - the haircut portion I mean - and as soon as I started shaving his little rat tail off I immediately regretted my decision to DIY my kid's head.

After over an hour of, "sit still Ty," (Ty goes from being in the upright position to head between his legs), "sit still Ty," (Ty's jollily kicking his legs back and forth), "sit still Ty," (Ty's scratching his neck uncontrollably at this point because the garbage bag has not proven effective), the crying and other antics, I finally called it quits. No hairdressers open at this point I decide that maybe if I spike it at the front, it won't be so bad.

After the whole thing was over he had a nice long shower to wash the 'itch' off. He got out of the shower refreshed and happy as a clam and asks, "so how about that freezy, was I good?"

I can't wait to see the pics.

Holidays can be hard... If you let them!

I realize this post is slightly delayed, but I've now had time to let the holidays really sink in and these are my reflections.

Christmas, a time for family, a time for happiness! Unless you're in a split family of course, then it's a time for mommy to be happy and daddy to be sad or visa versa... NOT ON MY WATCH!

Our family at Christmas at the Farm with Santa.

In our split family, just like in my nuclear family growing up, I view the holidays as a time to strengthen relationships and spend some extra time with one another. In our family we trade Christmas mornings from one year to the next: one year Ty's mom has him on Christmas Eve/Christmas morning and we switch around 11:00 a.m. or noon, and we have him for the rest of the day including Christmas dinner and Boxing Day, and the next year we trade. I'm under the impression that this part is pretty standard, but I do my best to ensure that the rest of our holiday is anything but standard. Here are my guidelines to make your situation more than amicable over the holidays:

Realize that everyone wants that time: Christmas is the most fun time of the year to be a parent, so obviously everyone wants to spend this time with their kids. Coming to terms with this reduces the "tug-of-war" for time over holiday days. This year it was our Christmas morning with Ty, but did it make us feel good thinking of his mom all alone on Christmas morning? NO! So we invited her to sleep over and wake up on Christmas with us. The result? We all had a great time, and Ty was so happy.


Respect different family traditions: Just like a marriage, where a husband and wife come together with different family traditions, a split family has more parents with a wider variety of family traditions. If mommy Sally always has a boxing day party with her whole family, shuffle the schedule to accommodate it. Similarly, if daddy Johnny has family coming into town and they want to spend time with the children, SHUFFLE THE SCHEDULE!

Create some new family traditions: Not just within your household, but for the whole "new-unclear" (haha play on nuclear) family. This year we went to an event called Christmas at the Farm, which took place a couple of weeks before Christmas, and was a nice family brunch in the country with hot chocolate, sleigh rides and Santa. We all had so much fun that this will probably be our new family tradition.

Forget the status quo: It's so easy to dig in your heels and say "this is what I want my Christmas to be like", or "this is what most split families do." Who cares what everyone else does? Since everything is all about the children, set aside the status quo and let everyone have some fun together.

I find that it helps to approach the split family situation as you would the other areas of your life: you get better results if you're kind, respectful, understanding, accommodating and a little bit flexible.