Almost the holidays!

It's becoming more and more obvious that almost half of my clothes no longer fit acceptably enough to wear in public.  Perhaps I'll go on a clearing out spree over Thanksgiving break and create some room for new items.

And by "new" I mean two things: new items perhaps from sales coming up (although I am not going early in the morning at all) and items new to me from thrift stores.  It's been a long time since I've shopped thrift stores, so I'll be a bit rusty, but I might find one or two pairs of pants that can hold me over until the spring when we can pack for Scotland and purchase really good quality clothes good enough for professional work.  For now a predominantly student wardrobe is still somewhat acceptable.

So this is our first Thanksgiving as our little family of two.  We are unable to travel for either major holiday, so we've decided to make the best of it just at home, just the two of us.  We've talked about various family traditions and what we'd like to continue and add to our own version of holidays.  Talking about such things when people get married (or even before) is very important.  Family traditions and expectations are so grounded in our psyche that problems and loyalties can arise and possibly rear an ugly head if they're not handled with consideration.

So this Thursday, we are staying home and getting up early enough for a real breakfast and watching the parade.  Then we will cook the traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, and rolls.  Then we will probably enjoy that meal twice!  Lunch and dinner.  And we will play some game like Munchkin or Big Bang Theory trivia.  (My family always played Bingo on Thanksgiving.)

Thursday evening the tree will go up, warm-scented candles will burn, Christmas carols will be blasting from the speakers, and everything will be covered in tinsel.  The Christmas season may officially begin (finally)!

For Christmas we will get up for presents, biscuits and gravy, and then probably a movie (Chris's family does this every year, and I'm voting for "Les Mis" since it opens that day), then a full dinner of ham and the trimmings.  We will watch Christmas movies like "Muppet Christmas Carol", "Charlie Brown Christmas", and others.

I will also be making homemade cinnamon rolls from my mom's recipe.  I'm going to try them in the next two days, so it will be interesting.