Just Around the Bend

This evening Darian and my Lewis nephews are piling in for a whole eight days of absolute goodness. And on Sunday, my cute sister, her cute husband, my very cute nieces, and my cute mom are piling in for a whole six days of laughter and games and cooking and chaos and movies and talking and family and shopping and eating and fun.

Ah--I love the holiday season.

Jace, too, is excited. Christmas is, of course, his favorite holiday, and Thanksgiving follows up as a close second. He told me that recently and I was shocked. Really, Jace? Why?

Because the Lewis family always comes and we always have such good food and lots of desserts. What's not to love?

I must say--I agree.

Of course, this year is a bit different than ever before as I have to work through Wednesday. I am hoping the days fly -- and, as they almost always do, I'm not too terribly concerned. But I am sure that I will have lots of times throughout my day of thinking I wonder what they're doing right about now. But I'll be sure to give plenty of admonishments that they not have too much fun or talk about anything interesting until I get home.

That'll work.

The week after Thanksgiving we'll put up our tree. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to rearrange our living room to make room for it yet as we've recently added another chair down here that is complicating the situation. And I was hoping to have some presents to pile under the tree already but...well, I don't. Surprise! But the thing is, I don't have a Christmas tree skirt. I always use a red makeshift blanket which is, of course, rather redneck of me, but by the time you pile on some presents, nobody knows the difference! Before Christmas, I'm always too cheap to shell out the bucks to buy one. And after Christmas? I always forget.

Yeah. I'm amazing like that.

And so here we are, Christmas #28, and we still don't have a Christmas tree skirt.

That's just one skeleton in my closet. I have a couple more, but I'll keep those to myself.

So today will begin the preparation. I already made a list for Roy so that he can go grocery shopping. And on Sunday, we'll go on a huge shopping spree in anticipation of the week that will include Walmart and Sam's Club. I typically avoid Walmart these days but for occasions such as this where I will have to pile my cart high, well...I figure braving the long lines and the people that make me question what is happening to the human race...kind of mean, I know...is worth it. And then Sunday evening we'll all head over to the caf for the MPA Thanksgiving feast which is always delectable and the event that heralds the actual beginning of the holiday season.

I wrote down our menu for Thanksgiving while I was riding in the car the other day. It's a typical American menu that includes what most people have with the exception of homemade noodles. Homemade noodles were part of our holiday fare every year when I grew up. I assumed everybody had noodles on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day until I married. You're making noodles for Thanksgiving? What's that? But I can't imagine the holidays without them. They're a staple--just like a Christmas tree and Jingle Bells and snow. Every Wednesday night, I roll them out, cut them into noodles, lay them out on cookie sheets, and let them dry overnight in anticipation of cooking them up in a veggie-broth the next day that turns into a noodle gravy that we slather over mashed potatoes. Mmmm....so good. And every year I think I should make these more often because they are that good. But? I never do. And most likely I never will. It would be kind of like eating pumpkin pie in June. Who does that?

So this morning I do believe I will find Christmas music to play on my way to work. I will dream dreams of family and fudge and card games as all of that holiday goodness is just around the bend.