Thanksgiving and 1st Advent 2014

Thanksgiving this year was at the Ballard's house. Nathan had a blast playing basketball the night before and football the morning of with all of his friends. I hung out at home and helped bake pies and prepare dinner. Everything was delicious!

I made a fancy cheesecake to go along with all of the pies. Mmm!!! I love cheesecake!!! And I have to say, I think this one turned out so pretty! But it definitely did not start out pretty....

Thank goodness for chocolate ganache to save the day. It was a pretty easy recipe. I wish the actual cheesecake was a little sweeter, but if you're not looking for something super rich and sweet, than this would be the perfect cheesecake to make. I found the recipe HERE. 

After stuffing our faces and relaxing while looking at the Black Friday ads, some of us got the crazy idea to go to Target for when they opened their doors. It wasn't too bad, and it was fun to see some people going crazy.

We also got to celebrate 1st Advent with my family. I love our German Christmas traditions! The four Sunday's before Christmas we light a candle and gather as a family eating our favorite German foods and listen to German Christmas music. Oh, I love it! We ate yummy German breads, meats, cheeses, and of course pickles for our Advent meal! We also decorated the house for Christmas. (We took a lot of pictures, but I don't have them, so I'll have to post them later.)

This is the best time of the year!