Thanksgiving and Let the Magic Begin

I spent Thanksgiving in El Paso with four awesome kids and their parents!
I love the star of Texas on the El Paso mountains!

B, C, J, and K

How did I get them to all sit against the wall, you ask? Oh. Well, I babysat them for an afternoon at a hotel room. I borrowed an idea from a cal I know (Lindsay Ross--check her out!) who does professional photography and offers sessions called the "funbooth" where she grabs a camera and let's the kids do whatever. I needed something to do with the kids an had limited resources. We had a blast and I have some great candid shots of the kids. (Nothing like what Lindsay does, though. Really--check out her blog and online portfolio. She's awesome!)

In addition to Thanksgiving, we also celebrated our annual "Let the Magic Begin!" party. Essentially, this is the start of our Christmas season. We eat great food, do some sort of craft with the kids, and then play holiday bingo. If you win, you get to choose one of the gifts--a new one or one another person already opened. It's like a white elephant party, only with the order determined by who won the last round of bingo.

Here are the kids coloring their holiday bingo cards, with the presents to their left.

This year was also the first year we were is so many different places for the event. Therefore, we did it by Skype. I told everyone what food to get ahead of time so we could all eat dinner "together", and then we skyped in from El Paso, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Pocatello, Idaho; and Piura Peru. We had a great night! Let the magic begin!