by the bright shining light of the moon

Thanksgiving is the word of the week. To start, I'm going to list a few things I am thankful for:

1) My sister - she's the one that keeps me going and makes me want to go further. I would do anything for her, and it makes me so happy to know that she would do the same for me.
2) My family - I've heard so many complaints from people in the last week about how getting together with their family for the holidays is almost unbearable, and I feel so lucky to have been raised with such a close knit family.
3) My friends - who put up with my ranting, whining, laughing, crying, and everything else when they have all the highs and lows of their own lives to deal with.
4) Fall and it's pumpkin-flavored counterparts - I think I have a problem. One day this week, I went with a friend and got a pumpkin latte and pumpkin scone, and a mere 2 hours later we went out for pumpkin custard. Hey, you've got to get it while you can.


Thanksgiving is just barely over for me, because I didn't celebrate until Saturday. I worked on Thursday evening, which was actually okay. It was terribly slow, but I worked with a few of my good friends, so it was a pretty enjoyable evening - not to mention the holiday pay.

Friday I got to spend with my family. Alyssa and I took my parents to try out Hubbard's in Middleton. In all honesty, I think I ate more that night than I did on thanksgiving. Cranberries & Cream Cheese Pie - enough said. Afterwards, the four of us went to the Badger men's hockey game. Unfortunately it ended in a tie, but I had an awesome time. Its always nice to join a big crowd of white and red, do ridiculous dances, and yell profanities at the top of your lungs. Incidentally, I don't think my mom quite enjoyed the nuances of Badger sports quite as much as Alyssa and I do, but it was still a good family experience.

Saturday we had Thanksgiving at my place, and I'm proud to say that my first attempt at hosting a family holiday went swimmingly. With a massive amount of help from my mom and sister,  everything went smoothly (even despite the turkey getting done over 2 hours early). Both sets of my grandparents joined us, everyone brought a little something, and we enjoyed a fabulous meal together. Afterwards we watched the Badger football game, which was a phenomenal end to the regular season.

Today I went back to work as usual. I came home and ate dinner, and then moved promptly on to the next holiday - my Christmas tree is up! However, I am a procrastinator and won't be buying presents until...well, Christmas...so there aren't any presents under the tree. [However, I have considered wrapping empty boxes...pretty and cheap!]

Off to dreamland.....