Thanksgiving break "to-do" list

Today is my last day at work of the week. Tomorrow, I will begin my Thanksgiving break. The girls are having a feast at their school, and I can't wait to go with them. Their class is responsible for making the applesauce, and following my slacker-mom canned veggie mishap, I made sure to send each of my girls with the required two apples.

Outside of giving thanks for the many many blessings in my life (I give much thanks for my wonderful family and friends), I have a bunch of things that I hope to accomplish with this extra time. First, and most importantly, my house is still scary. It desperately needs a good cleaning. While my girlies are eating breakfast and catching up on their am cartoons/coloring tomorrow morning, I intend to be washing linens and vacuuming the house. The only thing I dislike about that task is hauling the heavy vacuum up the stairs. Perhaps I can get Carl to bring it all the way up tonight, and I can work my way down. I also want to finish making my Christmas napkins and get a good start on my winter napkins tomorrow. I have already cut all of the fabric, so now I just need to pin and sew. Those two tasks, paired with the Thanksgiving feast at preschool, making dinner, and relaxing with Carl sound totally do-able.

I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving day. Although Carl will be playing his usual football game with his buddies, Mindy and Dan went to NE and Travis will be in NY with Nicole's fam, I am thankful to be able to spend the morning watching the parade with my girlies, eating cinnamon buns and carrying on the tradition that Mindy introduced to me during our Disney days. As an added bonus, TU's marching band will be in the parade...just before Santa. Keep an eye out for them! This is a HUGE honor as only ONE university band was chosen from the ENTIRE country...I am sooo excited! The girls and I will spend the early afternoon making stuffing and baking desserts for my mom's house later that evening. Although it will be a small gathering for dinner, I am excited.

On Friday, the girls and I are on our own again. While Carl is at work, we plan on taking down all of the fall decor and decorate for Christmas (sans the tree of course). Carl will come home to Christmas and a yummy soup made from Thanksgiving leftovers... I'm going to try to coax him to go to the dump on Saturday to get rid of a few things, but the rest of the weekend can be spent relaxing...did I mention that i'm pretty much DONE my Christmas shopping? So we can relax and enjoy our holiday season! Although I do need to finish Slate's stocking.

I am looking forward to a December of friends and family. Wendy is coming to visit, Dan, Mindy and Travis will be home for Christmas this year, book club has planned a cookie exchange, the girls are having their first "friends from school" birthday party, Carl has a job that he enjoys...we have a lot to look forward to, and be thankful for!