Holidays
Hallmark Thanksgiving Dinner
I saw a friend posted on Facebook yesterday (I think it was) a question asking if everyone had that perfect, Hallmark Thanksgiving Dinner. Then she asked what about those who had no one. I am paraphrasing. I guess I never really thought about it truthfully. We have Thanksgiving whether it’s my extended family or just my close family, either way, we celebrate it. In 2011, hubby and I made our first Thanksgiving meal. Prior to that we just attended Thanksgiving at family’s house.
I always had a goal to make a turkey. In 2012 we made our first Bacon Wrapped turkey. Yum! I think having a turkey is the only “traditional thing” we do. We play with sides. We play with turkey recipes. We’re not traditionalists. I remember one year at my aunt’s house she said we were having a “grown-up” Thanksgiving meal. It was good, but the only traditional part was having a turkey. I wish I was into taking pictures that Thanksgiving (as I am now) so I had a memory of what we actually had… I remember steamed green beans, roasted potato chunks, and that’s about my recollection of that menu.
But… do we have that Hallmark Thanksgiving Dinner? Good question. Here’s what Thanksgiving looks like at our house, give or take….
Black Friday
Guys, I’ve never been a “Black Friday Shopper.” Not in the sense of Black Friday shopping anyway. I’ve never stood in line hours or even the night before to get into a store. I’ve never been in a fighting match over the last hot item, etc. Truthfully, the reason is… I’m lazy. I like my sleep. The older I get, the easier it is to get up early, but I just flat out love my sleep.
Now don’t get me wrong, I usually do venture out on Black Friday, but my morning doesn’t start until closer to at least 7 am. And that time is pushing it. That might be my roll out of bedtime…
But these days I listen to the ads on tv and they talk about getting Black Friday prices NOW. Now happens to be 2 weeks or more before Thanksgiving. So It makes me wonder, are they going to do something special for Black Friday? Or are the days of true Black Friday shopping over?
I know people who are in the stores on Thursday night when they open. Roaming, looking for just that perfect deal… In fact, someday I may be one of them if need be to get my kid just what she wants. Truthfully I hope I’m not that person. Again… I like my sleep.
Father’s Day 2017
Breakfast consisted of Pancakes. My aunt got me this really cool new cookbook, Back in the Day Bakery. If you can’t tell… the pancake recipe is from that cookbook :).
Tomatoes out of my garden, that I fried up like Fried Green Tomatoes. OMG, they were dreamy!
Lunch consisted of grilled chicken breast, mashed potatoes, and fried tomatoes.
Easter 2017
One tradition I really wanted to keep is getting pictures with Santa and the Easter Bunny at the respective holidays. So far Abug still hates the Easter Bunny. This year Tbug happened to be with us when we went to see the Easter Bunny. She’s old enough I wasn’t going to make her get in the picture, as you may notice from how she’s dressed (just regular clothes) but Abug threw such a fit that we conned Tbug to be in the photo to keep Abug happy. We never did get Abug to smile, but this isn’t bad I guess….
Mom bought Easter cookie cutters and asked that I make her some Sugar Cookies to take to work. This is what she got. Not bad I guess, right? Please tell me they’re good 😀.
Our Valentine’s Day
Here while back I started thinking about Valentine’s Day and wondering what to get hubby. When I asked him what he wanted, his response was a quart of Thank You Cherry Much Ice Cream and the ability to eat the whole thing and not feel guilty. I laughed so hard, but he was serious.
Then I got to thinking about it and decided that he needed a receiver hitch in his truck. I have one in mine, but my dad’s got stolen when his truck was in the shop getting worked on, so dad had to borrow mine. It made me realize that we needed another one at least so I decided to get him one like the picture above. This way he had 3 different sizes, versus mine 1 size. My one will haul our flat bed trailer but if it is bigger or smaller than what was on my truck (and don’t ask me what size I have) we’d have been screwed, so I decided to get him the 3.
Our New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve I woke up thinking about the Beer Cheese Fondue we had the year before. We didn’t have any plans so I asked hubby if he’d be interested in doing that. He said sure. I also asked my parents, grandma, and mother-in-law. Low key and good food. We had to get up early the next morning so it was perfect for us. (and yes, I was in bed by like 10:30… I’m in my 30’s 😉)
I also saw this on facebook and laughed. It’s probably true…
Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night….
Ah, the joys of Christmas are over. I know I complain a lot about January, but I really just don’t care for January. Tbug on the other hand does because her birthday is that month, although once upon a time I asked her if we could celebrate her bday in June. She looked at me like I killed her puppy. She was like 7. Then… last year, she asked me if she could celebrate her birthday with us in June. I told her NO. She asked why and I laughed and told her about this 7 year old who was offended I even mentioned such a thing. We all got a good laugh.
But that was just a side note… the real reason for the post is Christmas. And here is the calm before the fury… or something like that. Right now hubby, the girls, and I are living with my parents until we decide our next move after selling our house this late summer/early fall. We decided we were going to set our Christmas tree up in our little living room and we were going to open our presents just as a family Christmas morning (since Tbug was with us Christmas Eve through Christmas Day).
Christmas Eve
Years ago I started a tradition. I would make cookies for people who helped me throughout the year and on Christmas Eve I would go around delivering them. I missed a few years, but not many. When I got married, hubby continued that tradition with me. This year was no different. This year I made sugar cookies and spent a week decorating them so that they’d be ready to plate up and deliver on Christmas Eve. We then piled in the little red “sled” (aka hubby’s truck) and off to deliver cookies we went. And out of all the plates we delivered, we only spoke with 2 of the recipients. All the rest weren’t home so I left them in the normal places I have in the past and off to the next place we went.
Leading up to Christmas
I had an epiphany the other day… They want to call it a holiday tree so that it is less offensive. Well holiday is all inclusive: Christmas, New Years, 4th of July, Valentine’s Day, etc… So does that mean we get to leave our Holiday trees up all year round? Just a thought…..
In other news…. So a lot of people won’t put up Christmas trees with toddlers around. Say it’s too much of a hassle or an inconvenience. I don’t agree. I think it helps teach them to love the season and respect the season and learn patience, which sometimes I still need to learn… just saying. I’m happy to report we only had one casualty when it came to Christmas presents. Abug got sooooo darn excited that Thursday of last week she opened a present. I laughed so hard because she was so proud of herself. It happened to be my present from my parents and I also knew what it was. No harm, no foul, but next time, open something I don’t know what it is so I don’t have to wait so long to know, okay kid 😂😜.
