This month also marked our third official attempt at family picture day. It's too early to say whether the latter was a success, but I'm cautiously optimistic. One thing that was unique and exciting this year was that our photo session was a free gift from a coworker of The Mister. He was very thankful that we could help out with having my husband cover some work shifts so that he could make a visit to his home country when the visa was approved at the last minute. We were surprised and delighted that he wanted to repay us with a photography session. The price of "free" was exactly what we budgeted for photos this year, so that worked out great!
"Okay, that's enough pictures." |
We traveled a ways to the excellent Grounds for Sculpture in Trenton, NJ. Put it on your list. |
Soon enough it was our annual church Thanksgiving dinner. We really reach out to the entire community and invite anyone, anyone to come for a free meal. It floors me how few people take advantage of our hospitality. The mashed potatoes are first rate. I know because I make them. I have an efficient system for making a delicious large batch of mashed potatoes without much fuss. I just leave the skins on and mash them.
Just kidding.
I spent Thanksgiving doing what everyone else did; cleaning my house and making pizza for supper. Actually, we celebrated a day later on Friday. Too many work conflicts with family made a Thursday dinner too much of a hassle. When you have a family member who works in a hospital or other 24-hour professions, you get very flexible when it comes to holidays.
Back in July, I saw a Thanksgiving display in Kohl's. You would have thought that would have lit a fire under me, but like the rest of the world, I've become both annoyed and oblivious to extremely premature seasonal decor. Thanksgiving saw me trying to cook the corn at the last minute and calling my mom to explain that we'd be twenty minutes late.
"Is this thing on?" |
"We're on the way," I told her. Some people were being all fussy about having to wear clothes, while I multi-tasked and shoved multiple slow cookers in the trunk of the car.
"Oh, about where are you?" my mom asked.
"Well, the driveway of our house, but we're all in the car!"
I might have been a little tired from shopping online on Wednesday night. Forget Black Friday. I've been conducting an informal study for years that shows all the good deals are live online on Wednesday night. I just needed the best price on one single thing and I got it.
I'm glad this month is coming to an end. They say time flies but sometimes it doesn't fly fast enough. The birds flew slow and low these past few weeks.
Bye, November. |
There are draft posts a-plenty. Join me in December for some pre-Christmas inspiration as I get back on the blog bandwagon.
"Four is too hard." I love that line.
ReplyDeleteI think 48 feels like that myself. :D
And I understand the stress of family photos. Why on earth is that such a big, pressurized ordeal? I ponder over outfits and colors for weeks in advance, plan haircuts for guys, worry about fake smiles.
Any way. I like your sense of humor; always have. I hope your holiday season is wonderful and warm.
Most sincerely,
R.
I also wonder, if som many of us are overwhelmed by family photos, why do we keep doing it? Oh, that's right. Memories are worth preserving, especially in a quality way with nice pictures. I have to remind myself of that over and over and over...
DeleteAlso, you're 48? That's incredible. You are beautiful outside and in.
Sounds like it's been a wild and crazy month! Personally, December is always my most stressful month and I always get what I call "December Overwhelm". I love all the beautiful photos in this posting, and I hope you're super-proud of yourself for your weight-loss accomplishments! You look beautiful, but then you always do! Here's hoping December will be more peaceful! <3
ReplyDeleteDecember will be spectacular if only because it leads up to something wonderful!
DeleteThank you for the compliment on my appearance. Likewise, you will always be my Lovely Little L-.