Another One For The Books

I don’t have any drastic Thanksgiving stories to re-tell. I know that’s almost unbelievable but it’s true. All went fairly well. All the dishes I prepared turned out like they were supposed to, my youngest son who mans the turkey fryer every Thanksgiving cooked two of the best he’s ever fried before, and his girlfriend made a dish to contribute and was a phenomenal help in the kitchen when it came time for clean-up.

We were a smaller group this year but it was a group full of heart and love. Every year that I am fortunate to have my parents, when so many of my friends are already missing theirs, I know I am blessed and I appreciate every minute I have with them.

The day after Thanksgiving I’ll be honest and say I didn’t do a whole lot of anything. All the clothes were washed-up and the holiday dishes from the day before, washed and put away. And I certainly had no intention of any Black Friday shopping anywhere – not even on-line. And I sure didn’t need anything bad enough to get out in those crowds full of crazy!

But that Friday after Thanksgiving,  I was invited over to my youngest sons’ house for a cookout and bonfire. He had already invited several buddies over as well, life-long friends that now lived out of town but were home for the holidays. I had started to beg-off, but he’s not one to take no for answer and it’s always nice to know that I’m welcome at his home no matter who else is on the guest list.

I had thought about putting the Christmas decorations and tree up later that same weekend but Thanksgiving came a little earlier in the month of November this year and I just didn’t think I was quite up to looking at all of that for five plus weeks. So I quickly decided that all that could wait until next week – besides, I hadn’t made my annual trip to Esposito’s in Tallahassee to look for a few new Christmas ornaments yet.

So that Sunday after Thanksgiving, Megan, my son’s girlfriend and I, took off for Tallahassee for that fun adventure, as she had never even been to Esposito’s before! It’s like a winter wonderland, full of every kind of themed Christmas tree you could imagine. Usually no more than two alike of any one thing, so you’re guaranteed to have one of a kind beauties hanging on your tree and if you give them for a gift – they probably won’t have anything else that resembles it.

So you all know what comes next – the scary shed – where all the stuff from Christmas’s past is housed. But that’s a story for another day. And believe me there are always colorful stories that go with the decorating around here. Onward to December….