Oh the holidays are my favorite time of the year… and Thanksgiving is the best of them all.  I truly love this day of thanks  and giving.  This year I donated what money I could to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. It is such an amazing charity that helps children no matter what.  I really believe in its cause and I can’t talk about it enough.  Operation Picklepuss when off without a hitch really.  We eliminated a lot of the things we were going to originally make because we weren’t actually feeding an army.  We had: Pumpkin Butter Dip, Dee’s Taco Dip, a 25lb Turkey, 2 Stuffings, Sweet Potatoes, “Mean Green”, Cranberry Relish, Mashed Potatoes, Pecan Pie, Apple Cranberry Pie, Pumpkin Pie,  Sugarless Apple Pie and so much more. My Mom and I had most everything ready the day before and then threw it in the oven an hour before dinner.  It was really great to see the babies…  All in all a really great Thanksgiving.  One I am thankful for.

The Christmas Season has officially started in the Armstrong household.  Every year the beginning of the season starts when we watch White Christmas.  It is a family tradition and we have done it every year since I was a baby.  And our family doesn’t just watch it once… we watch it once a week at least.  Also the start of the season is when Tootles starts making her Christmas Pudding.  And she did those today as well.  In our family it starts with White Christmas and ends with ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.  And everything in between is just a whirlwind.  I will keep you abreast of the plans and recipes… because now we have lift off.

So, I have to admit I might have a problem.  I am obsessed with the holidays.  I love how my family gets together and its so much fun and you can feel the love each of us has for the other.  The problem is that I want the holidays to be now, because I feel really alone and unhappy with my life at the moment.  Everything is “up in the air.”   The only thing that keeps me from going into a full panic attack is the love and support of my awesome family.   Tonight, in my mission to be ready for the holidays, I stayed up until 2am sewing Christmas bags.  We are going green this Christmas (I will post a tutorial on how to make reusable gift bags) and my Mom (Tootles) has been asking me to make them. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Anyway,  Don’t ever stay up late sewing green Christmas bags while watching Criminal Minds on cable until 2 am.  Also don’t do this when your house is in the middle of a forest with the windows to your living room open.  I was freaked out walking through the house going to bed.  I had my hands in ninja positions. (Think karate chop pose)  It wasn’t until I was almost to my room that I realized that my hands automatically went to this position. I can tell you one thing about me… I don’t know karate, and if I was attacked my hands like that would be useless.  So children the moral of this story is…. gosh I have no idea, but trust me when I say that Criminal Minds does a number on you when you are alone… in the middle of the woods… and your only protection is a gimp dog and your awesome Bruce Lee action moves.  Ohhhh what I won’t do to prepare for the holidays.  **Sigh**