Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We went to Suzette's house in Colts Neck. She lives in a 250 year old house on a farm. I loved the whole feel of her house. To think that 250 years ago people were living there and doing pretty much what we were doing is amazing to me. There was Fred and Suzette and her kids, Josh and Jenna, Irene, Nick, Me, Louis, Sarah, Christopher, and Suzette's Uncle, and Suzette's dog Bo, she was so sweet!

We got there and they had made some appetizers for us, shrimp, mozzerella and tomatoes and I think roasted pepper and mozzerella on bread. We visited and enjoyed the fire until the food was done. Then we had turkey and ham and all the fixings. Everything was deliciious! Fred went to culinary school and he did all the cooking. It's funny because he was a little frustrated with the mashed pototoes that they weren't as smooth as they should be. He said it's always that one bigger potato that didn't cook all the way. Then when you mash them there's some bits of potato in the with the smooth. First of all they were perfect and secondly that happens to me alot too.

After dinner we went for a walk around the farm. They have small ponds and we saw a Great Blue Heron take flight. They are so beautiful and huge! Fred said it would just fly to another pond and later that day I went looking for it and sure enough it was at the pond closest to the house. The property is beautiful. A lot of the land around the farm has been sold and big million dollar homes built but where Suzette lives is so quaint. Ponds, a little waterfall, a wooden bridge, horses, barns so many things to see.

After our walk we had coffee, Tiramisu, cheese cake, and pumpkin pie. Suzette makes these delicious cookies and chocolate bark too.

Suzette has a fire place in her living room and Christopher loved it. He would get firewood and they had this accordian air pump and he loved tending the fire. We sat in front of the fire alot. She also had a trampoline which Sarah and Christopher and Jenna jumped on. Christopher sure got a kick out of it. I think that was his first time on a trampoline too. It was a nice time of getting together with our family and enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Okay this is it. I did NOT have to eat all those cookies and cake from Delicious Orchards yesterday. It's one thing to eat alot ON Thanksgiving but the day before?!? Instead of waking up thankful, I'm frustrated with myself. So the way I deal with it is that I say "today is the last day of eating like that". I'll eat what I want today and then when I wake up tomorrow I'll watch what I'm eating for half a day and then say, "I can have this, or I can have that" and by the end of the day I've over eaten again. (venting)

It's two days before Thanksgiving and I'm sitting here in my livingroom. Louis and Sarah have left for school. Christopher and Nick are still sleeping. It's so nice and quiet. I thought I would just write a little.

We are having Thanksgiving this year at my brother Fred's girlfriend's, Suzette's, house. At first the kids were a little wary because they LOVE to have Thanksgiving at their grandparents house but we talked about it and decided it would be a fun new experience. I'm looking forward to it. I like Suzette alot! We've gone to a couple of parties with her, the fouth of July, and her housewarming party and she's always been so attentive to us. She went out of her way to make sure we were having a good time and she stayed close to talk with us. It's hard to put into words but you just know when someone cares by how they treat you. She's like that.

I'm going to make my peas and carrots with the campbell's soup and crispy onions and I'll make brownies. Irene is making her now famous corn pudding and turnips and cheesecake. After Fred and Suzettes we're going to go over to Bunny's house for dessert or second dessert. :) Hopefully Matt and Michele can come for that since they're going over Matt's brother's house and he lives nearby.

I'm happy to say that I've started my Christmas shopping. Irene is off this week and yesterday we went to the mall. We had the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday's and then walked over to Macy's where I bought my Christmas present from Nick, which was my perfume. I ran out of it about 9 months ago and couldn't bring myself to spend the $70 it costs so now that's it's Christmas I don't feel so guilty. Besides it IS a gift from Nick afterall. I bought the usual Yankee candles for the women and got some things for Sarah. Christopher is going to be a trip to Toys R Us, though we are going to get him a Telescope. Not a kiddy one but a very good one so that we can see lots of stars and planets. He is so into the Solar System. It's gotten us all into it. He'll get that and then some toys too.

I HAVEN'T gotten on the treadmill yet. I'm such a procrastinator!! Two things that I'm wanting to do every day or almost every day is to take time to read my Bible and to do the treadmill for one half hour. I haven't given up but I sure do get frustrated with myself. Those two things are hard to start but then afterwards I'm SO GLAD I did them. Why is that?? I think it's either just being lazy or if not lazy it's hard to put lesser things aside and put my time and energy into physical and spiritual exercise. There's a verse in the Bible that says something about the things I want to do, I don't do and things I don't want to do, I do. That about sums it up.

We hung up our outside Christmas lights. Christopher was so excited! He wants our Christmas tree up and everything ready Christmas. To be 5 again! He loves the idea of Santa Claus and getting presents and lights and decorations. It kind of gets me into that spirit too. :)

I came on to add some things to my to do list and I have now reached 50 things. I think that is appropriate since I will be turning (gulp) 50 in August of next year. I am planning on living it up during my last year in my 40's though. So far it's not been too exciting but I am stepping it up. People tell me I don't look even near 50 so that is a nice feeling to be seen as much younger.

I've been diligent in working on all 50 of my goals. I look at my list every morning and try and be sure to do all the things that I can do that day and make plans to accomplish a few things at a time in the near future. I am a list person...in case you haven't caught on to that yet. I have a list of books I want to read, a list of movies I want to watch, plus some other lists that I can't think of at the moment.

Enough about me though. Next year there are so many milestone birthdays. My dad is turning 80, Louis is turning 18, Sarah is turning 16 (Sweet 16 for girls is a milestone), I'm turning #0 (can't keep going there), plus Louis is graduating High School and then starting college in the fall. Where has the time gone??? I'm always talking about how fast this life is. One minute you're wishing you were older the next your wishing you were younger, one minute you can't wait until the kids are older so you can "do more", the next minute you're wondering what it was that was so important. The Bible talks so much about the fleetingness of time. Our lives are like flowers that bloom and then die. I was thinking how in Ecclesiastes it says that with all that Solomon had and experienced his final conclusion about life was to fear God and keep His commandments. I need to really contemplate this more and not just rush through life as if I didn't have a compass. God has given me one...the Bible. I also say to myself alot, "If not now...when?" Age, if nothing else, should be making us wiser. Making us use our time more wisely, our resources, our life experiences. NOTHING should be wasted here on this earth. We have to focus on storing up for ourselves Heavenly treasure. Doesn't that make Heaven that much more desireable? That much closer to our hearts?