The Countdown

I can't believe it. The Holidays are almost here. The fact that we didn't really celebrate Halloween until November 4th, (See this post), makes Thanksgiving that much closer! I can't wait. My parents are coming to be with us for Thanksgiving/Randall's birthday. I think having family makes it so nice. It gives you an excuse to go all out and bake and cook and decorate like crazy. In fact while Randall was away on one of his most recent trips I may or may not have indulged in a little retail therapy at one of my very favorite stores. HOME GOODS! I love that place. If you don't know what that is I would say that it's like a marrying of TJ Maxx and Taipan trading company. I am a sucker for all things glass and there is a huge section right up front with all sorts of dishes and glassware and decorative vases,...and did I mention dishes? Ahh...I love it. And, it's cheap! My table cloth was $8, and I bought 12 new goblets for $12.99, now that's my kind of store. I figured it was only right that I get a more Thanksgiving worthy table cloth, because last year I had to use my white tablecloth, and white dishes on a white table cloth certainly does not "scream" Thanksgiving to me. So I bought a pretty gold-ish table cloth and then some deep purple cloth napkins because I thought that would be pretty and not so blah as gold and orange. Anyway, I have spent a little time on pinterest lately gathering all sorts of new holiday ideas.

It's tradition for Randall and me to make pies the night before thanksgiving, while watching a good movie. Then Thanksgiving morning we usually watch the Macy's day parade as we prepare the other fixins'. Since we don't have cable we won't get the parade, so I'll have to look into watching it on the Internet, because you can't have Thanksgiving without the Macy's parade. Last year we went and watched the parade from Rand's office and it was a dream come true, but it was also exhausting. Seeing it is his birthday on actual Thanksgiving this year, I figured I should make it a little more about him and what he wants to do and not all about me, at least for one day of the year :) We do however think we may go to Central Park the day before where they fill up the balloons and get them ready for the parade the next day. I think that sounds like a lot of fun. We shall see.

When I went on my date to the library I picked up some new recipe books and have been perusing all sorts of yummy things to maybe add to or mix up our Thanksgiving Fare. I am planning on making a Thanksgiving binder with all the recipes that I use on a yearly basis. I know this all sounds ridiculous and shallow but I LOVE Thanksgiving.

I was also trying to think of a way to make the holidays a little more meaningful and spirit filled so I have started reading the New Testament. Our scripture group is studying the New Testament this year and I figured reading and studying about Christ would be nice and I am enjoying it so far.

Last night Randall and I had our planning meeting to discuss our all things Christmas, like budget, activities, what are we doing etc. It got me excited and way overwhelmed too. Sometimes in an attempt to get everything done and organized I overwhelm myself and started to feel panicked. I updated my Address book and finished up our Christmas cards today and really happy with them. The card is just various pictures because I decided that while I would like to think that the people receiving the card want to read about the things going on in our life, and how amazing and talented little Johnny is, in reality xmas cards often comes across of being so over the top or just plain rude! I don't know how many times I've read a Christmas letter and thought to myself things like "wow, compared to them, we are LAME, we don't do any cool stuff like them, or "who really cares that you bought a new house, and car and went on 7 vacations this year? I remember saying to a friend of mine once after receiving her Christmas card one year and feeling really bad comparing my life to hers, "Wow, you guys had such a fun year!" She replied that it had taken her 3 days and a lot of crying to figure out something to say. We all want our lives to see amazing and glamorous but bottom line, is life just life and even if you do have that amazing life, maybe I'm just too insecure to read about it. We on the other hand, have some cute kids in my opinion, and we finally had some great pictures taken(thanks Josh!) and if people want to know the specifics of our life, then there are many ways in which they can look me up so we can chat in real life, not in the crazy xmas card world of "we are so amazing, and better than everybody else." Whew, I feel better now.