Thanksgiving « Girly Muse

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I’ll Take a Jingle With a Side of Bell, Please

November 28, 2011

I’m in a sleepy stupor this morning. Greyley had to wake me up three times to get her off to school. Whew. Maybe there will be a nap in my future…or lots of caffeine. Both, if I’m lucky.

We had an excellent Thanksgiving celebration weekend. Would you like the rundown?

Thursday was so fun with our family…and all the delicious food. It’s always wonderful to be together. And chaotic. Friday, we played Phase 10 and Scattergories at Tosha’s…also good food. Saturday, we had lunch with friends we hadn’t seen in a long time and then Nate played out at the Aster Cafe. Sunday was a full day at church and then we played out at the Mall of America with the ABC Youth Choir. Good times.

Our “dress code” was ugly holiday sweaters. Or just ugly sweaters.

I think Nate’s outfit took the cake.

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

It was the candy cane turtleneck that took it over the top.

Greyley and I wore matching Christmas tree sweaters. Here’s the thing, though…they were so comfy! I have a feeling my ugly Christmas sweater will be making a home in my lounge wear selection. I’ll restrict it to the month of December, how’s that? What you can’t see from the picture are the tiny gold bells that jingle when you move…or breathe.

Everyone needs at least one outfit that jingles when you breathe.

I’m happy to see the sunshine is back! It makes the whole week shine with promise. Happy Monday, loved ones! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. XO

Posted in ABC Youth Choir, Christmas, November 2011, Thanksgiving | 5 Comments »

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Thanksgiving

November 23, 2011

I love Thanksgiving.

You’ve been hearing some of my innermost thoughts this past year as I’ve realized how simply being grateful can completely turn your life around. I’ve been on a quest to see the good even when I’m not feeling it. It began as a sort of, “Fake it ’til you make it,” kind of attitude and has turned into genuine gratitude for not only all that I have, but even for the hard places that got me to this point in the first place.

If you’ve been around this blog for very long, you know that I love lists. This seems like the perfect day for a list of what is making me happy and what makes my heart well up with gratitude.

Morning cuddles~ the best is if we can all four be part, but I’ll take any one of them I can get. I’m the “hot” one, as in, I get super toasty when I sleep, so everyone clamors to get close to me and take the chill off. It’s the best.

Clean, soft sheets~ newish ones from Bed, Bath & Beyond that I splurged on with my 20% off coupon. They actually FIT my bed, which is rare.

Cinnamon Orange Market Spice Tea~ Nate brought me a package of this from Seattle and it’s my new favorite tea. EVER. I placed an order. It has arrived. Dear Friend Who Loves It As Much As Me, I have some for you too~ you know who you are. XO

Hand Warmer Mug~ This was my other present from Nate’s trip to Seattle and I think between this mug, the tea and Peet’s, I just might survive this winter. It’s that good.

Time~ Things have been slower around here lately and it’s been wonderful to have time to reflect, be with family and friends, read, write, rest, breathe…

Health~ We’ve all gone through one bout of the funkus this month. I’m just coming out of one gross bout~ laryngitis and all, yuck!~ and it just makes me thankful for how long we were healthy this time and that our health IS getting better and better.

Indigo comes in while I’m writing this and sees his turkey at the top of the page and asks what I’m writing about…I tell him I’m writing about what I’m grateful for and he asks if I’m grateful for him.

Most of all, I say.

Well, where am I then? He asks.

What, he wants his picture on this blog AGAIN?

OK.

And I tell him he’s all over the place. That he’s part of everything I’m thankful for, and so are his sister and daddy.

Well, now I should go ahead and show you this one…

And this one too…

Their unconditional love surprises me every day.

Thank you, Son, for hijacking my blog. I needed that burst of color.

Back to the list…

My parents~ for their abiding love for me and their sense of humor even when times are so tough. I love them so.

This one black sweater~ I want to wear it every day. It saddens me to part with it even for washings.

My Savita Socks~ Socks my friend, Savita, gave me that I want to wear every single day. Fortunately there are two pairs~ they’re brown, soft, thick and the coziest.

The Little Lady who lives in our lower level~ Otherwise known as my mother-in-law. She’s been so very good to me.

Those friends and family who read this blog every time I post~ I feel like you’re my closest friends of all…that you would care to hear what I have to say time after time and that you share your life with me…I am beyond grateful for you.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Take time to soak it in. Eat lots. Drive carefully~ be safe! And love with eyes and hearts wide open.

Posted in November 2011, Thanksgiving | 7 Comments »

Post-Thanksgiving Tips

December 1, 2010

1) If you have leftover ham, make a yummy bowtie pasta dish with creamy sauce. I got a similar version of this recipe from my friends, Jonathan and Anna, using bacon instead of ham. 2 cups (or so) of heavy cream, 2 bouillon cubes (mix with a little bit of hot water and add to heavy cream). While the bowtie pasta is boiling, heat little bites of ham in the cream sauce. Let it thicken. After you’ve drained the noodles, pour the sauce over noodles and mix. SO delicious.

2) Add ham to your breakfast dishes…eggs, potatoes, or just a side of ham…yum.

3) Up your water-intake. See above.

4) Start a heavy-duty exercise program. My latest favorite DVD to workout to is Hip Hop Abs. The moves are easy, fun and you really FEEL it afterwards! AND the time flies while you’re doing it…gotta love that. My favorite thing about it is that you work your abs without doing a single sit-up. Double love. The icing on the cake is that Shaun T is way sweeter than that other instructor~ the one who rhymes with Gillian Nichaels. You don’t feel like tripping him as he walks by, so that’s nice.

5) Stay far, far away from the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Special. Don’t even dream of tuning in. Stay far from the pictures too. Just trust me on this.

6) Let yourself off the hook for feeling ready for bed at 7:30. Holidays are taxing.

7) Don’t feel bad about throwing something delicious away if you’ve had leftovers for 5 days straight. You’ve done your duty. Let it go.

8) Accept that winter really is here. Fall is over. There is work to be done…trees to decorate and presents to find…Christmas songs playing non-stop on the radio and general good will toward man.

9) Stay thankful.

10) Always think of my dad…because his birthday comes right after Thanksgiving every year~ it’s today. Happy Birthday, DadE. You are such a good man and wonderful daddy. I love you so.

Posted in December 2010, Thanksgiving | 4 Comments »

Squeeze

November 29, 2010

Can you say, “Thanksgiving Leftovers” fifty times super fast?

There was GOOD food and FUN times over the holiday weekend. Land sakes, it was hard to get up this morning. We missed the bus, that is for sure.

Here’s a little glimpse of Thanksgiving day…

Rob & Sarah, Nate’s nephew and his wife (they’re my nephew and niece, too )

Robbie, Nate, Savannah, moi, Indigo, Greyley, Zach and Caleb (Rob and Sarah’s kids…Zach was 2 when we got married and kept coming over for a kiss throughout the day…he has my heart. Look how tall he is~ and he’s sorta bending over here. Love these people.)

Andrew, Cheri, Axel, Miracle and Evangeline (Nate’s nephew and family)…oh, so cute and precious.

Alyssa & Evangeline (great nieces)

Wish this wasn’t blurry…our living room where the music is going DOWN. Oh yes. Guess you can kind of tell what we like to do…

Matt & Jenny (Nate’s niece and her husband…parents of a slew of children…7, to be exact) They are wonderful human beings.

After a long, fun-filled day…falling asleep in the chair…what a day.

And what’s not shown here is me and Ashleigh playing Rummikub…until about 5:30 in the morning. We definitely squeezed all the fun we could out of Thanksgiving this year.

Love all you people.

Posted in November 2010, Thanksgiving | 3 Comments »

Happy Turkey Day!

November 25, 2010

So thankful for all of you. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. XO

Posted in November 2010, Thanksgiving | 1 Comment »

So Good

November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Among all the wonderful things I was grateful for earlier this week, I have to add one more to the list…I am thankful that I am not shopping today.

It’s not up there with my husband, children, parents, family and friends, but after shopping yesterday for all the groceries for our Thanksgiving feast, I have to say it’s inching right on up there.

Add snow and ice to the mix and you will know what I mean.

So let it snow. I have what I need to be properly snowed in for a good week and a half. Two turkeys and a ham…enough baking basics to cover whatever dessert strikes my fancy…I am warming up to this SNOWED IN BUSINESS!!!

Thank you, God, for more than enough. Thank you for a warm house and pretty windows to watch the snow fall. Thank you for creating sweet potatoes. Thank you for it all.

Posted in Grateful Heart, November 2010, Thanksgiving | 4 Comments »

Grossest Thanksgiving Tradition

November 22, 2010

I love Thanksgiving.

I love the chance to reflect on all the good.

My husband. My children. My parents. My family. My friends.

I have so much to be thankful for…don’t we all?

And then there’s the food…

Oh, the food.

The musts at our house are turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, broccoli rice casserole, pumpkin pie…the rest can be interchangeable. So we may or may not do cranberry sauce some years, for example…but most likely, we will. Or we might do green bean casserole, but we also might skip it.

There is one more Must. It is something that might disgust you.

My grossest Thanksgiving tradition…

This is something that my Mama was always so gracious to let me do all these years. As a Mama, I’m not sure I would be as gracious…well, I do let Indigo eat the frosting off his cupcakes, so maybe I would be…but probably not.

OK, here it is. Do you get the feeling I’m stalling?

I am.

I love pecan pie. LOVE. IT.

There’s just this little problem I have with pecans.

I don’t like pecans.

However, the flavor of the pecan is good.

And with that filling, anything is so much more delicious, right?

So…I take a bite of pecan pie and then spit the pecans out…after thoroughly licking all the saltiness off the pecans…and any remnants of pie filling…

YUMMM.

It’s DELICIOUS.

Don’t judge.

Posted in Grateful Heart, Heartwarming Events, November 2010, Thanksgiving | 11 Comments »