Thanksgiving Weekend 2025

 

                Ryan and I are home from our whirlwind anniversary getaway. When I say “whirlwind,” I refer both to the brevity of the time away and the actual WIND. It. Was. So. Cold.

                I’ll tell you about our trip tomorrow, but for today I need to back up and share more about our Thanksgiving weekend!

                Yesterday I told you that on Thanksgiving morning, we went out for coffee at the Shaka Shack – part of the Adams County Coffee Trail. After coffee, we went over to Swiss Village to have lunch with my parents!

                I really love getting to have holiday meals at Swiss Village. It saves us tons of time and money on food prep – and we don’t have to worry about leftovers! (Extra helpful when you don’t even like the holiday’s food theme, right?)

                I was actually quite happy to learn that Swiss Village served both ham and turkey, so I was able to get ham, green beans, and a roll – and my day was complete!

                After lunch, Ryan and I organized Mom and Dad’s storage locker and decorated their apartment for Christmas.

                Both Ryan and I had the day after Thanksgiving off work, which was a treat for us. Ryan made breakfast for us – something we haven’t had time for in a long time – and then we set out to have the most wonderful day…

                …until Ryan was sidelined to the couch for the entire day with a kidney stone! He had struggled with the pain from it earlier in the week, and it never completely went away, but it did subside a little. It came back with a vengeance on Friday. He did his lemon water potion, and it did help, but he was pretty miserable.

                I really wanted to go see the Christmas tree lighting that evening, and I told him he could stay home and I would go alone, but he wanted to go with me. He’s so brave!

                It was colllllllllllllllllllld outside, but we walked around the Berne Christkindlmarkt and then huddled together until the tree lighting ceremony. Some really courageous singers sang and played the guitar – though I have no idea how they felt their fingers! Someone else read Luke 2, and then we sang Christmas carols while they lit the tree!

                Ryan wasn’t the only one not feeling well over the weekend. We were pretty sure Lexi had an ear infection, so we took her to the vet early Saturday morning. She was such a brave girl and got through the tests and the treatment in the office. Sweet girl.

                We came home from the vet and Ryan had another meeting right after that. While he was gone, the predicted winter storm actually showed up – on time and with the promised severity. Lexi and I were both so glad to see him return home safely!!

                And speaking of glad, Ryan and I were both glad that he birthed the kidney stone that day. He named him Leonard.

                We wrapped up our Thanksgiving weekend by exchanging our anniversary gifts just a little bit early. I’d gotten Ryan a heated vest and since I knew he’d need to shovel snow and that our anniversary trip was likely to be cold, I figured I should go ahead and give it to him. (He loved it, and he used it a TON over the weekend!)

                I was super excited to get new jammies and…are you ready? A bobble head of us!! It’s SO COOL!!!! He had it custom made, and I just absolutely love it.

                And now you’re caught up on Thanksgiving at the Shaffers!