december

We've had our first real snow, Thanksgiving is over, December is here (can you believe it!!)... ready or not, it's really the holiday season now. And I'm feeling happy and thankful. It was a great Thanksgiving.



First off, a quick note:

Today is
World AIDs Day

This is not really something I can wish you a "happy" one of, but take a moment today to think about all those still effected by this horrible plague. And think about how you can help... even if its just buying something to support project (Red).


As for Thanksgiving... well it was really great. I have so much to be thankful for, and the holiday really reflected that. An awesome husband, great family, and amazing friends. My health and a place to call our own. Soon a puppy all our own. Not to mention an abundance (of food, books, fun). We really are lucky.

My parents came over around lunch time, and brought lady with them. We had all sorts of finger foods, snacks and hor d'oeuvres out... shrimp, cheese and crackers, pigs in a blanket, dips and chips, crudite, and Trav's pickle/ham/cream cheese pinwheels. All so good.

My mom was a huge help... and between the three of us (Trav, Mom, and I) putting together dinner was a breeze. My mom was just happy to be the "helper" this year and not the dinner preparer.

She did carve the turkey for us though:
Trav and I realized just a few days before that we did not, in fact, have table linens! So we headed to JCPenny and got these:


We got many compliments... my mom really loved the brown and blue together.


There was lots of great food. And the company was entertaining.


They spent the night... the first to use our newly finished guest bedroom... and headed home the next day. Trav went out and did some Black Friday shopping, but I wasn't really up for it.

Another great thing about Thanksgiving... I got the wonderful news that my hoser (purple bridesmaid), Lauren, got engaged!!!

I huge Congratulations to Lauren and Joe!! I am so very happy for them and can't wait for that wedding!

The rest of the weekend was lazy and relaxing. I got one of my Christmas presents early, and we preceeded to watch the whole 4th season of the X-files!

Saturday I whipped up some of my favorite (super super easy) cookies, Gooey Peanut Butter Balls.

Its just 1 egg, 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix it all until well combine, then drop onto a sprayed cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes until the outsides are set, but they are still soft. Let cool and you have a delish cookie that stays soft and chewy. So so good.

I also managed (with some help from Trav) to get our Christmas cards all written out and sealed. I'll run out to buy stamps one of these days, and once we get the last few addresses they'll be ready to go! We'll probably mail them beginning of next week. Yay!

Now its back to work after 9 days off... which is a bit tiring. But I have plenty to keep me busy, so I better get to it!!