Wow, where has the time gone?  It’s already the week of Thanksgiving…. which means Christmas is right around the corner!

With the month of November finishing up, our “project” is also winding down…. there is still just a few more things to do, but for the most part the long hours at the office should be over with!  I am so excited to be completing this project so I can get back to “normal” life again at home.  Things around the house have “gone to pot” LOL!    And with Christmas coming, I have alot to do in getting our home ready to celebrate the holiday.  

What are you holiday plans for Thanksgiving?  For my family, we’ll all be going to my sister’s house (across the street) for a great meal and some “visiting”.  Not much holiday traveling for us this year LOL  My mom & dad and my younger sister and her family (husband and son) will be traveling about 45 minutes from Mississippi to join us.  I’ll be cooking the turkey this year…..  wish me luck LOL

I am hoping that we will go to pick out our Christmas tree on Wednesday - I would like to get it up early this year so that we’ll have more time to enjoy it.  It seems like by the time I get it up (in December) and decorated, it’s time to take it down.  When do you usually put up your tree and decorate your home for Christmas?

This year our Christmas is going to be smaller…. less of everything except for more of what Christmas is really about.  On my side of the family we’ve already discussed “present buying”…. for the adults there will not be an exchange of presents.  Each family will only purchase a gift for their nieces and nephews.  So that considerably cuts down on the number of presents that we will be purchasing.  Of course, the grand kids will be buying the grandparents a gift.  But our Christmas will be less commercial which I believe is a great thing.   I do agree that the Christmas season is a time of giving, but it shouldn’t be a time of blowing money and buying “stuff” just to have a present to wrap for someone.  The best gift is one that is from the heart.

I remember some of the Christmases with my kids…. I purchased and wrapped every possible toy that I could find at the stores.   It was disheartening when the fun part for them was actually tearing into the wrapping paper, throwing the gift to the side and then tearing into the next present.  It wasn’t what was inside the wrapped present, it was just the crazy mess of wrapping paper and bows everywhere that was “fun” to them.  Of course, there was always the one special gift that they cherished and all the others fell to the wayside eventually to be donated to charity the next spring when it was time to clean out the closets.  Well, instead of wasting money and buying a bunch of  “stuff”, we’ll be more considerate and just purchase 1 nice “wanted/needed” gift per niece/nephew and the same goes for the gifts I purchase for each of my children.