JourneysPhotograph

A Snowy Thanksgiving With Turkey Cupcakes and Santa

·Walnut Creek, California·#family#holiday#snow#thanksgiving#baking
A white Christmas tree with colorful ornaments and beads next to a teal armchair with festive pillows and a framed poster.

We got a jump on the holidays in late November 2016, putting up our white Christmas tree before Thanksgiving had even arrived. The house felt immediately festive, with the colorful ornaments glowing in the corner.

The kids got involved with their own holiday preparations, assembling a whole tray of turkey cupcakes. They were pretty proud of their work, arranging the candy corn feathers and giving each one a set of candy eyes.

For the Thanksgiving holiday itself, we went up to the snow. We took a walk through the pines along a creek, and had a very strange encounter: a person in a full Santa suit came leaping across the water. A completely surreal and funny moment that I'm glad I happened to catch on camera.

The rest of our time there was quiet. This was the view from our window as the sun started to set—just snow-covered trees, the road, and the lake beyond. A calm end to a memorable few days.

A decorated white Christmas tree reflects in a window, next to a blue chair with festive pillows and a poster.Two smiling children display a tray of chocolate turkey cupcakes decorated with candy corn and edible eyes.Two smiling children pose with a tray of turkey-shaped cupcakes, decorated with candy corn.A child in a snowy forest watches a person dressed as Santa Claus jump over a stream.A snowy landscape with pine trees, a lake, distant mountains, and a snow-covered road under a warm sky.A snow-covered landscape with pine trees, a road, a lake, and distant mountains under a golden sky.