What I Did On My Winter Vacation

Thanksgiving was great. This whole holiday has been great. I've become so re-acclimatised to the US that I almost called the holiday a 'vacation'. However, I am getting very antsy to see my husband again. I miss him something awful.

I have done so much shopping. Almost all of my Christmas shopping is now done, and I've gotten some lovely things for Fifi, Scott and myself. My favourite things are probably my fabrics I've bought for making clothes for Fifi. It's been great fun.

However, I've gotten very little work done. I brought my laptop so I could work on my reports, but I've only gotten in about an hour of work. Fifi has settled in but refuses to take any sort of long naps. This week is going to be a work week. I've got three Bori Buddies to make and two Bori Buddies to finish. As well as the rest of my handmade Christmas presents I'm supposed to leave here for Arkansas family members.

So, Thanksgiving. It was great. It was like old times, just like it. Waking up to the smell of turkey in the oven (I actually woke up at 5am to check on it, afraid Mom had forgotten to put it in.) My aunt arrived at 10, my brothers just after her, and the rest of the family after that. We stuffed ourselves silly on homemade rolls, turkey, stuffing, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, green bean bundles, sweet potato souffle and three different kinds of pie (chocolate, pecan and pumpkin). Mmm!

We've been eating the said delicacies for three days straight. Nothing better than post-holiday, microwaved stuffing and turkey. And turkey salad sandwiches. And turkey everything else.

Friday, we put out all the Christmas decorations. It's tradition to put them out the day after Thanksgiving. Now the house is so wonderfully Christmasy. It feels really good, because now it feels like I got to spend two holidays with my family. This is the first time in four years that I've seen my parents' house decorated for Christmas. I love it.

Fifi loves it too. She is fascinated by my mom's snowman collection. And the tree? Well, you can imagine. She's been very well-behaved with the decorations, for the most part.

Last night, we had a 'reunion' of sorts for all my old high school friends. I had a huge group of friends in high school; only four of us showed up for the reunion. I suppose that's just how it is. But it's annoying to think that three of the four of us who showed up don't even live anywhere nearby anymore, but only one person who is still local came. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. We laughed a whole lot at the expense of our old classmates and really enjoyed catching up. Good to see you, Andrew, Sarah and Devon. Tonight, some old friends of the family are coming over.

(In her defense, Amanda desperatedly wanted to come visit, and she would've been there too had her car not broken down, leaving her to have Thanksgiving in Nashville. I miss you, Mandas. I hope you had a good one.)

The plan for this week (besides getting some reporting and sewing done for work) is more shopping (we haven't hit the Conway stores yet!) and playing on Mom's sewing machine. I'm halfway done with Fifi's dress and more than halfway done with an adorable pair of bloomers. I love sewing machines! They are incredible!

Well, Fifi is up from her nap. My dad turned out the lights so she can enjoy the Christmas tree in all its glory. I want to go enjoy it with her.

Cheerio!