The Weeks Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

I have been struggling with my blog. I totally failed the National Blog Posting Month challenge of a post a day for the month of November. I was discussing this with a fellow blogger and came to the conclusion that no one really cares. Why do I even blog? Who is even reading this and cares about the minutiae of my life. I am getting over the guilt that I feel for not blogging and the incredible blogging block that follows it. I keep getting great ideas for random posts but feel like I can't do it until I get this thing caught up. So here it goes.

Thanksgiving was nice. The food was eh... but the company was wonderful. We went to one of my brother's homes in North Scottsdale, the weather was chilly/rainy but it was great to visit with the family that was able to make it. My brothers and sisters are all so spread out (in age and by miles) and busy with their own families that we have not all been together since my Dads funeral in July of 2006. To all be together for an occasion soon (other than a funeral) is on the top of my grown-up Christmas list.

Black Friday was great. I am a die-hard Black Friday shopper. I went through the ads Thursday night, made a plan and tried to get a few hours of sleep. I left my house at 3:45 a.m., shopped in 8 stores and I was home at 7:45 a.m. with everything on my list. I went back to bed and got a nap - it was great. We got the Christmas tree up later in the morning.

Devon took this picture while we were getting the tree up. I am the double-wide in the white sweater.

We went out riding and also went to an old friend's house to reminisce. I grew up with a great group of friends. We all lived there and went to church and school together from kindergarten to graduation. A few of us visited and told stories that some of our spouses were surprised to hear. I was really the only girl on the block - and I was definitely a tom-girl - there were always shenanigans involving fire, dumpster diving and long distance bike rides. It was great fun to see them again.

That weekend we went out to dinner and to a Phoenix Coyotes game with some good friends. We kind of happened upon a newer fro-yo place called Ocean Blue. It is great - I can't wait to go there again.

During these last few weeks I have cleaned and decorated. The honest truth is that Courtney did almost all of the decorating - she was in a better mood than me in the week after Thanksgiving.
This entire bag of trash came out of the cushions in our chair and a half. It is mostly candy wrappers from Halloween. Gross!

I have shopped (almost done!) and crafted. I have hand addressed 65 Christmas cards and written a personal note on each one of them. We have attended orchestra and choir concerts and a wonderful Enrichment meeting. There are three three parties this week to attend! We had a very nice visit with Alan's dad and his wife DeAnn. They were here for DeAnn's daughter's son's blessing. Is that confusing enough? We love all of them. DeAnn's daughter Kelly and her husband Travis are special people and we enjoy having them in our extended family. During their short weekend visit we made a trip over to see the temple lights. It was gorgeous as always - visit that linked web site and get excited about taking your family and friends to go see them. It was pretty cold - but you would have thought it was a lot colder by looking at how we were dressed!

That is my update. I feel a weight lifted off of my shoulders just by putting this out there. Now, I feel I can return to my regularly scheduled blogging.