Gearing Up for Thanksgiving and Christmas

It's really starting to look and feel like Winter. We've had some real heavy frost this week, and we're all gearing up for the holidays. Thanksgiving is just days away, and Elizabeth and I are feeling very "Christmas-y". We've been playing, singing and listening to Christmas music, watching some Christmas movies and getting presents shipped to the out-of-state family. We've got about half of our Christmas boxes shipped now, and the rest are well on their way to being packed and ready. Of course, Oliver has found all of this preparation extremely tiring. Poor boy.



Thanksgiving should be a lot of fun this year. Most people have one Thanksgiving, but we're having two! We get to spend Thursday at Buddy and Kay's house for their dinner. That will be fun, since we should be able to get a little jam session in with Buddy --- and some gab sessions, too! Our menu plans are lasagna (or some form of stuffed shells, roll-ups etc.), waldorf salad (Mom's family's recipe and traditional fruit salad), regular salad and sweet potato casserole. Kay is making pumpkin bars, by popular request, so that will take care of dessert.

Happily, we're also having Thanksgiving with the Keultjeses on Friday! Hannah is coming up, which meant they planned their dinner for the weekend. That means we'll get to be with them as well. Elizabeth and I are just thrilled. It's great to spend holidays with people that you love. :)

Mom and I took the Operation Christmas Child boxes in to a local church (and drop-off location) on Friday morning, then we decided to run a few errands. We stopped in Lowe's to pick up a new wall outlet for the kitchen, but I'm telling you --- you've got to be careful! All of the displays were out for the Christmas gift ideas, and we couldn't help looking. The cutest things were these little junior tool kits for children. Complete with a tool bag and apron, the child gets a hammer, screwdrivers, wrench, pliers and more. The price? Only $10.00! We had to buy two (along with extra packs of nails and screws), because Mom and I thought we'd spend the evening making two more shoe boxes. Look a little more and you find the cutest little "Build You Own Tonka" set, so we got two of those. Then, we went across the street to the dollar store and bought some glue, tape, colored pencils, paper and toothbrushes. Add in a Hot Wheel and a little beanie dog, and it made for some really cute boxes. Dad was able to take them up to a church yesterday. Can't wait to start collecting for next year.




Well, that pretty much brings you all up to date with our holiday preparations. We have watched Holiday Inn, Christmas in Connecticut and Going My Way --- getting in the mood, you know. Last night, we saw The Bells of St. Mary's for the "first" time (okay, so we'd seen it when we were about nine years old, but that's not saying much for remembering it), and it was so sweet. I wonder why we've not watched that over the years?

It doesn't look like we're going to put up a full-size Christmas tree this year, as Oliver was a pretty naughty fellow last time. Plans are leaning toward a couple of table-top varieties, but . . . more on that later.