Happy Thanksgiving and all that stuff!

It's been WAY too long since I've posted anything. To be truthful, I haven't had anything "positive" to say! A couple of weeks ago I wrote this long "venting" post and then realized that I didn't really want to share that side of me with anyone - let alone people I love!

SO, I didn't post it. It did feel good to "let it all out" so to speak!

While there has been much stress and anxiety in my life lately, there has also been much to be thankful for. I have witnessed miracles and received many blessing. I am truly blessed, humbled and grateful for SO many things. I am blessed with a husband who works harder than he should have to. I can only imagine the burden that is on his shoulders as he tries to support and provide for our family. I have amazing children, who for the most part do their part to be obedient, righteous and helpful. I have the best of friends. They are supportive and loving. I have the love and support of a loving Heavenly Father and the comfort of a loving Savior. Yes, I am truly blessed.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving! I spent the day before making pies and rolls. We had our traditional pre-Thanksgiving dinner of hot scones with yummy refried beans, cheese and salsa! For dessert we had scones with raspberry freezer jam and powdered sugar!! YUMMY. We watched White Christmas, Holiday Inn and Going My Way! Yay, Bing Crosby! We were glad when Vaughan arrived home safe and sound from working in Flagstaff and joined in our pre-Thanksgiving festivities!

Thanksgiving day we went to my parents house. We had a yummy feast with my parents and my brother, Mike's family. It was relaxing and quiet! We took naps, played games and planned our Black Friday shopping trip!

Of course, Friday came way too early as Vaughan and I headed out to do some Christmas Shopping in the wee morning hours! Yes, it was still dark outside! We had success though and got most of what we planned. I continued the shopping till early afternoon! It is nice to almost be done with that part of Christmas!

We enjoyed our Durfee Thanksgiving that night. It was fun to visit and catch up with family. Vaughan played games and we enjoyed having Afton come over and spend the night with Hope!

Saturday we cleaned the house and put away ALL the fall decorations! I decided to DEEP clean, washing curtains, cleaning fans and even cleaning the glass light fixtures! It's feel good to be dust free for a few days!

Sunday we enjoyed our sacrament meeting, attended tithing settlement and then started decorating the cleaned rooms for Christmas. The girls helped tons! It usually takes me a week to decorate. I only have a little left and the living room to do! I plan on doing that tomorrow! Here's a *hint*. Take pictures of your decorations after you decorate. Then next year all you have to do is repeat what you did before! It made things so easy for the girls to help. I just pulled the pictures up on the computer and told the girls to pick a picture and start decorating. (I also pack my Christmas stuff away by room and label each container what room it is for! This helped too!)

Tomorrow I'll finish up the cleaning and decorating. For the first time ever I think I will be ready to start the Christmas season by December 1st! Pretty good for someone who just started thinking about Christmas a couple of weeks ago!

All in all it was a successful weekend and a wonderful holiday!