Fa lalalala..... lala.... la..... LA!

Dave is in heaven.

It's a little known fact that my beer loving, Simpson watching, butt scratching, manly man of a husband has a sweet spot for Christmas music.

Yup. That's right.

And I'm not talking about the updated versions of the classics (Like that awesome remake of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Barenaked Ladies? LOVE it!) No, Dave likes the really classic traditional renditions sung by people who are no longer alive (AKA the really SLOW ones!) It's true. As soon as we hit the day after Thanksgiving BAM! the radio was constantly set to 96.1 - Jacksonville's official Christmas music station. (I'm not sure how one applies for this title, nevertheless.....)

So here I am at work, humming Silent Night because it's been stuck in my head for days, while co-workers nervously glance sideways at me every few minutes.

What can I say! It's that time of year!

The house is decorated with all my mom's cast-offs... items she decided she no longer needed to decorate her beautiful house with. (Thanks for the really old threadbare garland circa 1975!) And this year I decided it's time to pass on these traditions. So I gave my sister a bag full of items I no longer needed (Kara! Look! Some really awesome garland circa 1975!)

What baffles me every year is the fact that Arnold still thinks that our Christmas tree is a real tree. Poor guy. He's easily fooled.

For example.... I may have told him this was a really cool hat. Although... I think he was onto me...

Santa's always watching...

What is it about the holidays that makes people start to act... well... in a word... GRUMPY?

Is it because of the terrible traffic on the road that seems to spring out of nowhere? Or is it the shopping for presents for people who are impossible to shop for? Is it the incessant family time that your mother guilt's you into? Or maybe - my personal theory - we all just miss the hot humid weather of the summer because that's why we live in Florida, dammit, we like the heat.

Whatever it is it - everyone has got it. It's like a bad cold that seems to just keep going around. No one can shake it. Everyone I know is acting like a Scrooge.

Well.

I, for one, am going to have a great holiday season - even if it kills me.

This past weekend I made Dave drag the fake tree out of storage, put it together, and plug it in to infuse some holiday cheer into the house. Granted it's not decorated yet. (What? I'm a busy girl. Shopping for impossible people to shop for.) But still... it looks pretty when all the lights are lit. And I made D drag out the ladder and throw some lights on the outside of the house. He was profusely against this endeavor, afraid it would draw more attention to the peeling paint and overgrown shrubs in the front. My theory - It's still got peeling paint, even if we DON'T put lights on it so why the hell not? It's fun. Plus the street looks so festive when everyone has a little twinkle on their house ;)

I think tonight's agenda will be pulling out all the ornaments and stockings and hanging them by the chimney with care...


WAIT.
What if I don't have a chimney? Hmm...

The week in pictures.

Ever see one of those news stories where there is no voiceover, no reporter, just nat sound and images of some event going on? Sometimes they call it "The week in pictures?" Well. Here it is. Our first Thanksgiving - in pictures. I think these say it all. I'll give you dates, purely for reference points, but as far as captions or quotes - use your imagination!! :)

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday
Friday

Saturday

IMAGE REMOVED

(for fear husband will then examine enormous credit card bill.)

Sunday

I'm just glad it's over.

I'm finally coming out of my Turkey coma. Sorry to anyone who was hanging on the edge of their seat for the next post! (You know who you are.)

The big day came and went, and I have to say it was lot like my wedding. There was alot of eating, drinking, inappropriate toasts; and I can't quite remember everything but from the pictures it looks like I had fun and everyone was happy.

Dave in a food coma...

...Arnold in his. (But Arnie's food comas seem to happen every day... hmm... I wonder if turkey is an ingrediant in catfood?)

I actually didn't do as much cooking as I thought I would have to... Thank goodness my family likes to cook!! And my in-laws brought a ton of pre-made food with them so we were all set.

The two things I DID cook were the bird (obviously) and some homemade pumpkin pie FROM SCRATCH. Ambitious, yes I know. But I like to put pressure on myself.

My friend Leanne gave me a baking pumpkin. Her dad is a farmer and she had a few she needed to pawn off on friends. I took one, along with some very loose instructions, and went on home with dreams of pumpkin pie dancing in my head.

The first step was splitting this sucker open. We briefly toyed with the idea of using the chainsaw but finally D was able to wedge a knife in there far enough to get it going. It's not quite like the pumpkins you carve at Halloween... these suckers are THICK! It's not hollow on the inside, rather it's full of "meat." And what you do is split it open, roast it for about an hour or longer, and then scoop out the meat.

Ehem... the "guns" that opened the pumpkin.

MEAT.... Mmmmmm...

And the end product. Cooked meat! Better than raw meat. Clearly.

You then take that stuff and make pumpkin pies, or pumpkin bread, or pumpkin soup..... and then more pies... and more bread...

No joke. I STILL have meat leftover and I've already made (and eaten) 4 pies and 3 bread loafs, one with nuts, one with chocolate chips. Anyone hungry?