Thanksgiving - we spent the day at home here. well not all of it but most of it. This year was the year with my family but anyone who knows me knows that I don't go to my parents house for the holidays so this year we stayed home and invited anyone who want to, to come over and be adventurous in our first attempt ever at a deep fried turkey. (we still didn't have a new stove - 10 months and counting!) It ended up being Bryce's mom, grandma, him and myself. It was a quiet non-traditional turkey day. Simple dinner - no baking, minimal cooking and lots of laughs. Around 6:30 for the first time in 8 plus years I decided that it was time to head to my parents. I would have said no but I had a cousin in town that i haven't seen in 17 years. They were here for 3 short days - arriving on Thanksgiving only 2 hours before we got there and was leaving in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday. It was fun but crowded. We stayed there only 90 minutes before heading home.
The day after Thanksgiving, we are open as a company but only require 1 person to work in each department that day. Lucky me, I was scheduled. I don't mind it because it is rather easy day. No managers, no phone calls, just me and a new Christmas tree to set up and get going. By noon, my work had brought in pizza. They told us to hurry and eat then they kicked us all out. It was an easy day to get paid for basically doing nothing. After work I called my sister and she asked me to meet her at the mall. By this time is was 1... was I insane?? YES!!!! I have this store that i am completely in love with called Torrid. Best. Store. Ever! they were having some killer deals and I wanted new clothes. My sister has never been there and she needed new clothes. Win win win win! That was the only store I was brave enough to go in to. We got in and got out as fast as we could. When I left i got a call from my cousin asking her to join her for dinner. Bryce hadn't been feeling well and he told me to go get some girl time with her. Not that i normally mind but the whole fam damily was there. We had a group of 20. It was nice to spend a few hours out with my cousin I don't get to see at all. While there my mom put me on the spot and ask me to do her hair.
The next morning I got up bright and early to pick her up. One thing not many people know is that my cousin has physical disabilities. When I see her I see a normal person who has to work 10 times harder than I do for what she wants. She tries very hard to do things on her own but she needs help constantly. When I picked her up her mom said that she would come with to help with her. Her mom scarifies so much for her on a regular basis that i told her i would be able to handle it and if we needed anything, that we would call. This gave her and her parents (Her parents also help a great ton!) the whole morning to lounge, relax, take time eating breakfast and do whatever they wanted without have to worry about AL. I took her home and helped her down to my basement and we got her all done up for an evening with my other cousins. Of all things we put in more highlights along with blue low lights. I flat ironed her hair (which she has never had done) and we called her mom when she was all done. It was so cute to see her extremely nervous for her mom to see her. Her mom loved it! It was a sad time to say goodbye to them. I don't know if it will be another 17 years before I see them again. They are talking about coming down next year, hopefully for a longer period of time, but things come up and things change. Hopefully it wont be too long.... after my cousin left, we got ready and headed over to Bryce's sister. This year is was their turn to spend Thanksgiving with the in-laws (its nice that we are on the same year) and when that happens we have a huge dinner at their house the Saturday after thanksgiving. It was filled with movies - always a tradition to watch Christmas vacation with his family when we do our thanksgiving dinner - food, laughs, and games.
Christmas Eve and Christmas:
This year I had Christmas Eve off. The first time in a long time and hopefully not the last since I have switch departments at work. First part of the morning I spent running errands. To the grocery store, to my parents house to drop off gifts... all very early so I missed the crowds. I was home by 11 and just relaxed until Bryce got home. We spent some time tidying up the house and settled down to dinner, Christmas movies and chocolate fondue.
The next morning Bryce was up at 5:30 (surprise!!!! I am usually the one that is up super early) when he gets up, I get up - for the most part. We open our gifts and we headed back to bed for a short nap. By mid morning his family came over and I was well on my way to making lunner... or dinch. (on my new stove mind you!) We opened up gifts and had dinner. By 5, everyone was gone and we settled down to more movies. The day after Christmas we went shopping in the bright morning hours.. and it was a complete bust! Bryce had to work and headed to work while I went home and relaxed. I wasn't feeling so hot so I spent the day lounging around with some of my favorite movies... somewhere in there I took a nap too. I didn't get any pictures on Christmas. I was having too much fun enjoying myself (or staying busy in the kitchen)
New years eve I had to work. It has been a long busy ride since then. I got off at 4 to head out and run a few errands before we had a small party at our house with family and a few friends. There is no better way to end the new year than that.
