27: Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season

J and I had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend. It was nice, cozy, quiet – just the two of us! – and my long weekend actually started a little earlier than anticipated since we were granted a 3-hour early dismissal from work on Wednesday. Sweeeet!

I got up (quite) early on Thursday and since I was in a baking-mood in the morning, I first prepared the dough for a German sweet yeast bread (it has to rise for a couple of hours) and then gave Gina’s chocolate chip oatmeal cookies a try. Holy deliciousness! I highly recommend these! I think I need to bake another batch for Christmas!

I worked on my Christmas cards in the early afternoon and then also started our Thanksgiving dinner. Since it was just the two of us, I decided to make a (crockpot) turkey roast instead of a whole turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans. I tried Heather’s three-ingredients-crockpot recipe (ha, have you picked up on the fact that I just love my crockpot?! It makes cooking so easy!) and it turned out perfectly. The cranberry-sauce mixed into the gravy added a nice touch and the meat was very tender and juicy.

I did a lot of crafting and knitting on Friday and stayed in my cozy pants all day. I had copious amounts of holiday blend coffee and tea and ate one too many of the delicious cookies. As promised, I did not set foot outside of my front door on Friday! I was not going to brave the crowds for a mediocre deal that was probably going to last throughout the next couple of weeks anyway!

On Saturday, J and I ran our usual errands and also got some shopping for our upcoming Germany trip out of the way. J desperately needed a warm jacket (because it’s going to be cold, very cold, in Germany over Christmas and we’ll possibly have snow, too!) so that we can hang out at all the Christmas markets while we’re there!!! I guess, some Glühwein will also help keep us warm!

On Sunday, we got up bright and early and headed to the Bay Area to meet up with my friend Susi and her family and visit the “Charles Dickens Christmas Fair” in San Francisco. We went for the first time last year and I was so impressed that I definitely wanted to come back (heck, I am probably going to make this an annual thing!).
The fair didn’t disappoint, it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G again! People were dressed up in beautiful Victorian costumes, there were musicians and carolers, actors and dancers.

Beautiful decorations, just as I remembered.

People in costumes and little shops!

Christmas carolers

Musicians

The stage schedule and flowers (from J!)

Susi and me

J got an authentic 19th century hat

my friend Susi’s baby girl was enjoying herself too!

yummy treats

This woman was amazing – she was holding this pose for a long time!

We spend the whole day at the fair, had some yummy food and drinks and just enjoyed the beginning of the holiday season!

One thing I realized though: I need to start working on my camera skills a little bit. Shooting in dim light is tricky, especially without a tripod, and some of my photos just didn’t turn out that great.

Other good things this weekend:

Trader Joe’s Wintery Blend coffee ♥ Christmas shopping (mostly online) ♥ knitting ♥ staying in my pj’s ♥ shopping for our Germany trip ♥ watching movies ♥ sunshine ♥ putting up our teeny-tiny Christmas tree ♥ candles ♥ Christmas Card crafting ♥

How were your holiday weekends, peeps?