Getting Ready for the Holidays

I am determined...DETERMINED, I SAY, to have my house decorated for Christmas BY Thanksgiving Day and all of my gifts purchased and wrapped by December 1. Here's why...I have just three days off for Thanksgiving and don't want to spend them cooking and decorating. Can't avoid the cooking but at least when the last of the dishes is washed and put away, I'll be able to sit back and enjoy my already decorated house.

Our holiday plans will be a bit different this year. For the first time in our 26 years of marriage, our families are not in the same town. Mother's move to Green Grove and Ned's to his house will change the complexion of our holiday plans from here on out. The question is this: How do we make sure that everybody feels like their got their due without losing our minds? I started getting twitchy about this as early as two months ago and made a proposal that, praise The Lord, Hank found agreeable.

His mother's family has a reunion on Thanksgiving Day at the American Legion Hut back in Hometown. I took tap dancing lessons from Ilona Hiers in that same hut for five years...first grade through fifth grade. I'm pretty sure that mother and daddy knew they were wasting their money but held on to hope that one day, I'd develop a sense of rhythm in my feet. Truth be told, Thanksgiving at the hut isn't my "scene" but it brings back fond memories for Hank, and Lorelai doesn't actually mind going so much because she says people ask her questions about herself and she likes being the center of attention...go figure! She's a novelty there, since 95% of the people who attend never left Hometown and see each other all the time. Mother and Ned have frequently been guests at the hut on Thanksgiving Day, but I don't think that taking them back to Hometown is a good idea. They're happy and I don't want to stir the pot.

So, Hank and Lor will go to Hometown for the midday meal. I'll be at the farm cooking a traditional holiday meal for supper. I'm going to send Legare over to Green Grove for Mother and Ned and probably have him help her get her Christmas decorations out. Then we'll all "gather together to ask The Lord's blessing" later in the day.

And we have been SO blessed this year. Mother and Ned are safe, settled, and happy. Hank's mother, who struggles with depression is doing better (I don't talk much about Hank's family...those are his stories to tell). Legare is doing well in law school and has secured a job for next summer. Lorelai is doing well in college and we have managed to find a way to get her into a new living situation for second semester. Have their been troubling times...sure, but the good FAR outweighs the bad and for that we are indeed thankful.

So...two weeks from today you can expect photos of Thanksgiving and my Christmas decorations. YIKES! I'd better get busy...