Happy Thanksgiving!

This week seems to have been the beginning of the marathon that I believe ends on January 2, 2010! Thanksgiving dinner was planned to be at my house with my parents and my aunt Marie attending along with my sister-in-law, LeAnne, and her girls (my brother had to work.) Thanksgiving means nearly a week of planning and cooking. I actually enjoy preparing Thanksgiving. My sister and I usually talk on the phone and compare recipes that we are going to try. This year, it seems to have snuck up on us because the weekend before, I went to Beaver to help celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary--Happy Anniversary. Before I knew it, it was time to start unthawing the turkey.

We had a great Thanksgiving day. It was pleasant and everyone stuffed themselves, then stuffed themselves again. My favorite part is going around the table and sharing what everyone is thankful for. I always enjoy hearing what the kids have to say. We usually get answers that range from family to toilet paper and everything in between. We did have a brief moment where James and Marie got in a bit of a political discussion, those who know these two can only imagine how that went, other than that, dinner was a success.

After the dishes were cleared, the sale ads were brought out. I was leaning towards not shopping on Friday but Lindsey asked what Black Friday was. After explaining the event to her, she declared that we must participate. My mom, of course, was looking forward to it. So, at 4:30 am, I began my day of shopping and standing in line. My day of shopping did not end until 6:30 pm that night with a two hour visit to Smith & Edwards with my dad. Those that are from Beaver, and have not been to Smith and Edwards, imagine a Variety Store, blown up 100 times. I did enjoy spending the time with my dad and I did find some good bargains.

Saturday was spent bringing in the Christmas decorations and wrapping the loot from Friday. Of course, time was taken out to stress over and eventually enjoy the BYU- U of U football game. Since that time, I have been decorating, cleaning, shopping, and starting to stress over Christmas. I want to enjoy the holidays, I really do, but I think I'll breathe a sigh of relief on January 2, 2010.