Almost Christmas

The gifts are wrapped and the Christmas parties are underway. I received this gift at a party on Friday night. Actually, I traded away a gift in order to get this one. It just makes me laugh.

Christmas seems to come and go more quickly every year, but this year I'm going to slow down and take it all in.



Merry Christmas!

Is Santa Secret

Our family draws names and we exchange Secret Santa gifts. By the time we figure out who's in and who's not in the draw and pull out names, and finagle the names so that no one is buying a secret santa gift for his or her spouse, we can almost guess who has whose name.
There just aren't that many combinations that can work.
I think it's funny.

It is getting better now that we have the older kids in the draw. It makes it harder to guess.
It's still fun to "reveal" the names and gifts on Christmas afternoon. It's complete mayhem and then we all take a nap.

I'm looking forward to it. Now I just have to finish
shopping.

I wish these two guys were still around.

Thankfully through Thanksgiving

After countless hours in the kitchen and countless dishes prepared, cleared, cleaned and run through the dishwasher, I can report that a successful Thanksgiving is in the books. No catastrophes, no calamities. Not even a broken glass. I am thankful for this.

I discovered a great fresh cranberry recipe, and it's so good that I made some more on Sunday. I am thankful for this tasty treat.

I should have taken a photo of the turkey, but forgot. Or maybe the sangria clouded my thinking. Oh,sangria is a new part of our Thanksgiving menu. I am thankful for that, too.