Holiday Weekend so far
Well, it's been quite a pleasant Thanksgiving weekend so far. We began Wednesday night when my mom came over to "help" prepare some of the dishes ahead of time. I was concerned to have my mom and the Wife in the same kitchen together, but it went amazingly smooth, much to my relief. We prepped sweet potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce, and the stuffing. Thanksgiving morning we got the turkey in the oven early, and got to take a little break. The kids watched the Macy's parade and I got to think of all my NYC blogger pals out there. Too bad Julz wasn't out there, we'd have looked for her on TV.
Also surprisingly, preparing the rest of the Thanksgiving meal was pretty smooth and nearly stress free. I believe the Wife stressed for a few moments only once. We had my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my cousin over. Everything was ready pretty much on time so the meal came together nicely. Of course we had WAY more food than 7 adults and 2 children can eat, but that's what Thanksgiving's all about, right? We had something like 6 different desserts: 3 pies, cheesecake, this brownie/pudding/whipped cream concoction my cousin brought (that was HEAVENLY, BTW), and I can't remember what else. We managed to get rid of most of the food by giving it to our guests but the desserts stayed here. There's no way we're going to go through them all so if anyone would like some, please feel free to drop by.
The dinner itself was very pleasant. Unlike a typical Italian gathering, there wasn't a lot of loud talking, arguing, or generally obnoxious behavior. We all just hung out, ate, drank coffee, and chatted. I felt a little bad for the boys since there were no kids but them, but they managed all right. The funniest thing was when, after dark, we hear the door open. Grasshopper decided he wanted to go outside and play cause he was bored. Poor kid! Once we got the boys to bed, we were both exhausted and totally crashed.
Yesterday we did our part to boost the economy and went out Christmas shopping. I had gambled this year that the mall would be no too bad, as in the last 2 years electronics stores and Target/Wal-Mart were insane. While this was true this year, the department stores were also mobbed. However, my attitude yesterday was not to get all of the doorbuster-sale stuff, but get whatever was available. We left the house around 9:30 (cause I ain't getting up at no 3 am to be there when the store opens. Fuck that.). We hit Kohl's first and ended up being there about 2 hours, 53 minutes of which the Wife spent in line (she timed it). After that it was lunch at the Cracker Barrel (yum!) followed by the mall, which was not too crowded since all of the doorbuster sales were now over.
On an amusing note, during our meal, our server asked if we'd gone to Cardinal Mooney High School (which we had). He recognized us and I looked at his name tag, which said Dan. Though I didn't recognize the face, I new of only one Dan from our graduating class that went into food service, and it was indeed him. Turns out he was a chef for a long time and decided to now go into education, so he's waiting tables as a low stress job while going to school. The boys thought it was odd that someone our age would be just now going to college, until we explained the concept of going back to school. They gave us the big Ohhhhh! Anyway, it was great seeing someone from the "old days". We dropped him a generous tip, he being a pal and the service being quite good and all.
There aren't too many plans for the rest of the weekend. I need to do minimal grocery shopping today and since the weather is good I'm putting up the Christmas lights. Now that it's actually Christmas season and all. We have one or two more items we'd like to get this weekend, like Christmas cards for one. But for the most part, I want to take it easy. I think we all need a little break from our hectic schedule before it starts up again Monday.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.
Also surprisingly, preparing the rest of the Thanksgiving meal was pretty smooth and nearly stress free. I believe the Wife stressed for a few moments only once. We had my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my cousin over. Everything was ready pretty much on time so the meal came together nicely. Of course we had WAY more food than 7 adults and 2 children can eat, but that's what Thanksgiving's all about, right? We had something like 6 different desserts: 3 pies, cheesecake, this brownie/pudding/whipped cream concoction my cousin brought (that was HEAVENLY, BTW), and I can't remember what else. We managed to get rid of most of the food by giving it to our guests but the desserts stayed here. There's no way we're going to go through them all so if anyone would like some, please feel free to drop by.
The dinner itself was very pleasant. Unlike a typical Italian gathering, there wasn't a lot of loud talking, arguing, or generally obnoxious behavior. We all just hung out, ate, drank coffee, and chatted. I felt a little bad for the boys since there were no kids but them, but they managed all right. The funniest thing was when, after dark, we hear the door open. Grasshopper decided he wanted to go outside and play cause he was bored. Poor kid! Once we got the boys to bed, we were both exhausted and totally crashed.
Yesterday we did our part to boost the economy and went out Christmas shopping. I had gambled this year that the mall would be no too bad, as in the last 2 years electronics stores and Target/Wal-Mart were insane. While this was true this year, the department stores were also mobbed. However, my attitude yesterday was not to get all of the doorbuster-sale stuff, but get whatever was available. We left the house around 9:30 (cause I ain't getting up at no 3 am to be there when the store opens. Fuck that.). We hit Kohl's first and ended up being there about 2 hours, 53 minutes of which the Wife spent in line (she timed it). After that it was lunch at the Cracker Barrel (yum!) followed by the mall, which was not too crowded since all of the doorbuster sales were now over.
On an amusing note, during our meal, our server asked if we'd gone to Cardinal Mooney High School (which we had). He recognized us and I looked at his name tag, which said Dan. Though I didn't recognize the face, I new of only one Dan from our graduating class that went into food service, and it was indeed him. Turns out he was a chef for a long time and decided to now go into education, so he's waiting tables as a low stress job while going to school. The boys thought it was odd that someone our age would be just now going to college, until we explained the concept of going back to school. They gave us the big Ohhhhh! Anyway, it was great seeing someone from the "old days". We dropped him a generous tip, he being a pal and the service being quite good and all.
There aren't too many plans for the rest of the weekend. I need to do minimal grocery shopping today and since the weather is good I'm putting up the Christmas lights. Now that it's actually Christmas season and all. We have one or two more items we'd like to get this weekend, like Christmas cards for one. But for the most part, I want to take it easy. I think we all need a little break from our hectic schedule before it starts up again Monday.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.
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