many thanks

okay. so on my "favorite holiday's" meter, thanksgiving resides awfully close to the bottom but that's not to say i'm not thankful for all my many blessings or the time to sit back and relax with my family. i'm just not keen on large quantities of dirty dishes and the traditional thanksgiving meal doesn't do much for me either.

nevertheless, thanksgiving was lovely this year. my dear husband had two full days off from work and although they were unpaid, he was home and we were grateful for that. who needs paid holidays anyway? they're over-rated ... and i'm being serious ... with his line of work and the economy as it is, we're just grateful that he has a job to be off from for a few days.

we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the in-law's home and i can happily report that red juice was only spilled a handful of times on linda's white table cloth. i guess it's time to educate the children on the significance that weight distribution holds when handling a top-heavy wine glass. they both tried to fist the bottom of the full glass (no thanks to me) and quickly experienced the lack of strength their tiny wrists had compared to the weight of that full glass. the result: red-juice-all-over-white-table-cloth and ann's lap.

but it was okay because linda is the queen of accommodation and to her, those life moments are never as tragic as one might think if they were only to witness my reaction to what had just happened.

c and b spent the night and the husband and i took the opportunity to get some (all) of our christmas shopping done on friday. this year we don't have money for christmas or maybe it's that the money that we have won't be spent on christmas because we have these amazing people in our lives who want to be a part of helping us through this trying time. we are forever thankful and grateful for you.

two years ago we provided christmas for a family who didn't have much and i become overwhelmed with emotion to think about how much has changed in such a short period of time. i hope that soon enough we'll be able to give back again as we did then and remember the lessons we've learned this past year about the goodness in people all around us and the insignificance all material things have in life. the experience has been humbling to say the least and i find myself full of appreciation when the heater kicks on at night or when i set a warm plate of food in front of my children. it is because of the people in our lives who love us so selflessly that we will never know suffering like so many do and for this i am also grateful.

saturday i went on a date with my mom to see this

and i want to see it again. badly. so, to anyone who wants to go a fourth or fifth or sixth time, give me a call. i admit, it was cheesy as hell but i loved it. we laughed at so many of the scenes {particularly when he steps out in to the sun} but they did a wonderful job casting the movie and they really followed the book well. i was disappointed that it wasn't a play-by-play of the book, i would have sat through a six hour movie with edward ... wouldn't you? i mean, check out the jaw line. so i'm going again whenever someone invites me. hint.

thanks mom for a fun day, just the two of us.

the rest of our weekend was spent decking the halls. my favorite time of year .... merry christmas!