Hello and happy Monday Friends ~
How are things in your area of the world? For my friends in the states - are you getting all set for Thanksgiving ahead? 🦃
We are getting set for it here, but it will definitely be a smaller more casual gathering and it sure makes things in my world nice and easy. My daughter will be staying down south but will be home for a month at Christmas -yay! My son is coming and will be staying with us through the weekend (makes my Momma heart happy!). His Jill will probably hang out here a lot too. My Bro and SIL are going with her family as her parents are moving back to the area that week. And my step Dad is going to spend some time with his daughters. So I think our only guests will be my son (and his Jill popping by later) and my Mom.
And this year I've been feeling in the spirit to decorate the house early for Christmas - so that's just what I've been doing - with help from Matt of course. :) I have to finish just a couple of things...but for the most part it's all decorated, inside and out, and all my trees are up and only one needs finishing! Also, I have 3/4 of my Christmas shopping done and will start wrapping and have gifts under the tree probably by Thanksgiving! Feeling very accomplished. ☺️✨ And this morning we even woke up to about an inch of snow! Let the holiday season begin ❤️💚
Also, we had a lovely weekend in here in our northwoods: besides errands, decorating etc. We also went to a hockey game on Friday with the C's as Mr. C gets box seats from the bank he works for. It's always so fun! Saturday we did a Costco run and got some of the Thanksgiving groceries. And yesterday we went out for brunch with my Mom and step Dad after church and then back to their place to help them decorate for Christmas, play cards, and watch some of the Packer game there (they won again -yay!)
When we got home from my Mom's I finished the downstairs tree while Matt and I watched the rest of the game. 2 of my favorite things - Christmas and the Packers!
A cute little bunny hanging out in the snow this morning.
THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:
ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:
coffee with sugar-free peppermint mocha creamer (fasting)
ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:
The rest of the Thanksgiving groceries, finish decorating get bins put away and finish some cleaning, baking and prepping dishes for Thursday, hospice work Friday
THINKING ABOUT:
How I'm giving myself grace to not make everything homemade this year - I plan to cut some corners and I'm kind of excited that I won't have so much to do this week.
AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE
Listening to Christmas music as per usual. Lol I love looking around and seeing Christmas spirit all over the house and snow out my windows. I'm truly ready to dive in and enjoy this whole holiday season!
CURRENTLY READING
nothing currently
ON THE TV TODAY:
Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Great British Bake Off, Jeopardy, Ghosts, Shark Tank, Grey's Anatomy, Holiday Baking Championship, Walking Dead catch up
ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:
MONDAY - leftovers
TUESDAY - pasties, veggies and protein ranch dip
WEDNESDAY - something easy....maybe even a little egg bake to use up old veggies (& add cheese & bacon) It will be nice to have for Thanksgiving morning too
THURSDAY - Thanksgiving meal: roast turkey(Matt is doing), mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, cranberries, broccoli salad, fruit salad, corn dish Matt is making, crudite, cheeses, dinner rolls, pecan pie, butterscotch pumpkin bread, iced cream, hot apple cider and other drinks
FRIDAY - turkey soup from leftovers
TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:
wrap gifts, listen to Christmas music, play games with Aaron & Jill
TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:
FROM THE CAMERA:
On Friday Matt and I popped into an antique store to check out any unique gifts we might pick up for the holidays (we found a couple of treasures). However, we did not take home this almost life sized spartan statue that had been from an old restaurant. Lol It was such a nice and we had to walk a little ways to the hockey game and we enjoyed the views of the lift bridge in our area. Then we watched hockey with the C's and Matt snuck a pic of me and my bestie Mrs C getting into the game.
I found this cute padded placemat at Hobby Lobby and I thought it would be cute under these trees I got to be a centerpiece on the dining room table. I love the placemat looks so vintage northwoods. And I love how the trees glow at night.
We've got our glow on all over the house now. It's so cozy at night time. We never had outlets outside in front of the house - other than in the garage...but Matt had one put in and he strung up lights outside and I love the big vintage looking ones! And I put candles in all the windows out front too. 🎶 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 🎶🎵
The downstairs tree with lots of white garland and accents and all the family decorations is done. I still need to finish the upstairs tree (lots of accents of red and mainly just gold and red ornaments - lots of northwoods theme) Here's a peek of it:
