It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!

Thanksgiving decorations, consisting of a couple of fun turkeys and antique turkey salt and pepper shakers in the living room, school projects in the dining room, and turkey rubber duckies in the bathroom, were down and packed away first thing on Friday morning.

My ever-growing collection of Santas (and a few precious Mrs. Clauses) are gracing the living room buffet and overflowing onto other surfaces. I made way for the two trees by removing/rearranging furniture. The trees went up on Saturday! In front of the living room window, we put a 7 1/2 foot with multi-colored lights. In the family room, we put up a skinny 6 1/2-footer with white lights (my first time for an all-white-lighted-tree).

My elves managed the ornaments. Everything but some getting-very-fragile-school-project-keepsakes and the glass bulbs went up. My younger elf will be spending the next month rearranging the ornaments, moving them from tree to other tree and back again. She likes to group like ones together; all the grinches sometime end up on the same branches. I'm sure that she can reach all the way to the top of the tree, but I still put my precious ones near the top. I think that she understands that she can play with the ornaments that she put on the trees, but she better leave Mommy's alone. I hope that she gets this concept! We had several casualties with the glass bulbs last year. Those were better left in the basement, as they do not flutter or twirl very successfully.

Oh, of course, the first set of Christmas rubber duckies are in the bathroom. We have the large Santa ducks, a small set of Santa ducks, and new this year the Christmas Carol set with Scrooge Duck himself.

A smallish tree graces the kitchen counter along with the Santa Chef and some Snowmen and Nutcracker Bakers. A couple of even smaller trees are on the dining room table, as well as the Santa who holds candy canes.

You might think that this is too early to decorate for Christmas. December is busy! With a 4-day weekend, it works for me. Plus, that little elf of mine has been asking for Christmas since August. Waiting until now was a really patient thing for her to do.

If I get one more ornament, I'll need to get another tree. I hope someone gets me one more ornament!

If I get one more Santa, I'll need to buy a bigger house by next Christmas. Santa always brings me a Santa! I better start saving for a new home!

I believe! Do you?

thankful for...because...

I am thankful for...
my Children, because they are who they are. They make me proud and bring me unbelievable joy.
my Mother, because she is strength and honor and love.
my Father, because he was not perfect, but his heart and mind persevered until his body could not.
my Siblings, because even when they are too near or too far away, they make me feel loved and safe, wrapped inside a special cocoon.
my Divorce, because if it hadn't happened, I would be at my in-laws right now, and it's snowing there...lake-effect snow. Snow...bad.
my Chelsea Friends, because each one has a special talent and goodness that she brings into the world that makes it shine for the better.
my Work Friends, because how could we all get through 5 days a week without the laughter and support.
my Furnace Man, because he's coming over to service my furnace tomorrow (literally, not symbolically).
the Meijer on Jackson Rd., because they had 2 planters, and I finally, finally re-potted most of the plants in my house. (Probably not the best time of year to do so, but I got it DONE.)
my Dog, because he gives me unconditional love, and I have no idea what I will do with him tomorrow when the furnace man shows up. Come to think of it...what will I do with my children?

Go, Go, Gutter Mind...de-activate!

Everything anyone says lately puts my mind right in the old dirty, sexy gutter. Shouldn't the upcoming Thanksgiving put my mind somewhere wholesome and familial, or at least thinking about food and naps? Maybe the whole Thanksgiving "family-ness" makes me want to feather the nest and where better to start than to find a man? Of course, just thinking about a man, any man, doesn't get me one. No one seems to know any good men. It's a sad state of the world when there are no good men. I have to hope that there is one left, and I'll be greedy enough to grab him if he would make himself known. So, be warned, if you speak to me, watch what you say as there might be consequences of smut of the mind or pleas for a man. Either way, not pretty.