Happy Holiday-ing

Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. And a great November for that matter since I've only posted once since the beginning of the month. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving...we spent it up at Will's family farm/retreat/whatever it is which is perfect for Thanksgiving as far as I'm concerned. It looks rustic but is actually very modern on the inside, it's made of stone, it's secluded in the woods, and it's only a 40 minute drive away. Far enough to feel like we're going somewhere for Thanksgiving, but close enough that traffic doesn't bother me much because it's such a short drive. We spent 2 nights up there, and combining my family and Will's family worked out nicely. I did all my prep ahead of time too, so all I had to do the day of was saute canadian bacon pieces and sprinkle some blue cheese on the brussel sprouts. Everything went quite well except for the fact that we took the dogs with us and they peed all over the place at night. My just barely potty trained 2.5 year old does better than my idiot dogs who have been housebroken for over 6 years. Just another way the dogs make life easy and enjoyable.

Then, wasting no time, we moved right on to Christmas. Emily is now old enough to not only understand but anticipate holidays, so it's lots of fun to do Christmas-y things. She went with my parents (Gemmy and Dibby) to pick out a Christmas tree yesterday morning, so we couldn't get away with being Christmas tree-less around here for very long after that. We've opted to use the fake tree again this year since Will is allergic to the world and his allergist says that getting a real tree is one of the worst things you can do if you have allergies. He's working on his allergy shots, and by next year he should be impermeable to all allergens. The problem is, it is SO easy to bring the tree up from downstairs, unfold it and plug it in. It feels lazy and wrong, but it's so nice to get everything set up in an hour or so. Perhaps Emily will just have to enjoy picking out a real tree with Gemmy and Dibby every year and then just get by with our laser-beam Christmas tree at home (I'd forgotten how very PIERCING the LED lights on the tree are. Decorating it is kind of like staring directly into the sun).

So today Will is hunting (I know...this is a new thing, but I would be thrilled to get a whole deer's worth of fresh meat!) and I have plopped Emily down in front of some Christmas specials so that I can clean up my house. I hate plugging her into the TV, but having her watch the same specials I loved growing up is not bad for her brain, it's wholesome and traditional, right?