So Much To Be Thankful For

The M's had an absolutely wonderful long holiday weekend and I had a fabulous birthday. It was a great time of family, friends, and celebration!

It all started when….

Wednesday night J and I did some errands and went to the grocery. Did you know that when you go to a crappy eye doctor and he writes a crappy prescription you can't get it filled correctly? I. JUST. WANT. MY. CONTACTS! So basically, I'm blind until further notice of getting (another) eye exam. The grocery was super crowded. We got the essentials and left.

At home we made two Oreo Cheesecakes, one for each Thanksgiving meal we were attending. Neither were the same and both were made up as I went along. Luckily, they were very tasty.

Thursday morning we got an early start and went to have Thanksgiving lunch with J's family and about 50 of his closest relatives. Yeah--there was a crowd. More than half of the people he didn't know and one kid was sporting a gnarly rat tail mullet type thingy. I'm sure he's never been out of the small town of 232 people.

After lunch with the M's it was another couple hours drive to have dinner with my family. Oh how the H house was vibrant and alive. I think I laughed enough to counteract the calories I was taking in. The deviled eggs were a real crowd pleaser. Yeah, I know, who goes to Thanksgiving (twice!) and talks about the deviled eggs? ME! I love deviled eggs! Sadly though, I missed the cocktail sausages until dinner was being put away and I was too stuffed to even consider eating one. Boo! I miss doing Thanksgiving with the B's. However at least I didn't have to participate in the Spades tournament that isn't over until everyone is bleeding!

Saturday night Mrs. O-to-be and her fiancé stayed with us. We had lunch together before going out to shop a bit. No big BLACK FRIDAY deals for us….just meandering about. (J and I resisted the temptation of the flat panel for the living room. I think I'd rather pay a bit extra than fight the madness at Best Buy.) I did manage to get a fabulous dress from Limited for only $10! Yes, $10! It had been $78. Talk about a deal.

Friday night J and I put up our Christmas trees. Yes, trees! One for the living room and one for the den. Well, those are the 6.5 foot trees. I have 2 and 3 foot trees for the bedrooms and stair landing. I love Christmas decorating! After putting up the trees we watched Christmas Vacation. It's my family tradition to watch it Thanksgiving evening, but we failed, so it was Friday night for us.

Saturday morning was MY BIRTHDAY! Furthermore I was TWENTY (drum roll please)…..FIVE! Yes, for the first time in four years I'm admitting my age. For the past four years I've been twenty-one. However, I decided the quarter-of-a-century milestone just couldn't be passed up. Besides, all of my other friends are doing it, and as A says, "Glad you could join us!" (However I will NOT age next year!) I started off the morning with coffee and gifts. J got me tons of cute little things including a four-strand pearl bracelet, a monogrammed locket which now proudly sports a picture of him and of my little brother, and a monogrammed wine carafe and wine glasses. How cool is that? Yes, we're fancy at the M house with our monogrammed wine carafes and wine glasses. He also got me a tea set I'd been eyeing. The rest of the day was fabulous with my husband and I putting up outside Christmas decorations and going to dinner at a fabulous little Italian place where I dined on scrumptious Lobster Ravioli and ended the meal with Tiramasu. YUM! It was a wonderful day of celebrating with my family and friends.

In honor of this milestone I decided to make a list (my favorite thing to do) of:

Twenty-Five Things I've Had For Twenty Five Years

1. My bright blue eyes
2. My bubbly, ghetto booty
3. A heart as big as my aforementioned bubbly, ghetto booty
4. A wonderful, WONDERFUL, family
5. The ability to not keep my mouth shut and especially at times when my mouth should be shut
6. My Eeyore, not quite 25 years, but very close
7. A strong love for the color pink that once resulted in pink carpet, pink walls, and Strawberry Shortcake décor everywhere
8. The need and love to shop--retail therapy
9. My BFF Bex, again not quite 25 years, but very close
10. My straight mousy brown hair
11. More creativity and craftiness than I know what to do with
12. A love of writing and a love reading
13. My inner nerd---I love to learn!
14. Freckles, mostly on my arms
15. A lovely, charming personality (mostly!)
16. An inquisitive nature that causes me to often ask "What If" in most situations, a trait my hubby could do without
17. My Pappy wrapped around my little finger
18. A sunny disposition, this includes the cheerleader living inside me that is always full of pep
19. White coat syndrome including fear of needles, blood, and pain
20. Chatty, chatty, chatty, my Grammy says I came out talking and haven't shut-up since
21. The excitement and thrill of traveling, seeing new things and places
22. Clumsiness….I used to be called "Grace" for a reason
23. A desire to please, (this sometimes sucks!) which includes the ability to not tell someone NO!
24. A love of chicken and dumplin's, and anything containing chocolate and/or peanut butter
25. My little rocking chair with the red velvet cushion that my pappy had made for me

And one to grow on:
26. The horrible character flaw of making fun of stupid people, hey they bring it on themselves!

Wasn't that fun?

Sunday included more festivities with J and I having lunch with friends. By the time we returned home I was absolutely exhausted. The remainder of the evening was spent attempting to recover from the week's events.

It was such an enjoyable, festive, and celebratory Thanksgiving and Birthday. I love my life!