Thanksgiving vs Christmas

As you may know I am headed home from work late and in the super dark of night. Last night I come across a few things of interest. The first ....A giant inflatable Turkey.

Perfect in my eyes as when I was growing up we weren't even allowed to talk Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Now that seems kind of silly as you basically need to start shopping at the After Christmas sales for next year to be able to afford gifts but I do try to keep to this tradition as much as I can. We don't really have any turkey decorations except for the hand print ones from the kids so we keep our Fall leaves and not rotten pumpkins out.

Maybe it is because we are a semi-round family or that we never had huge amounts of money but Thanksgiving was always a big holiday for us. My mom would say it was her favorite because it was more about getting the family together for a meal. We always had 12 billion people and 12 billion side dishes and we cooked it all from scratch. 1 year my Mom invited a nun from work and she brought mimeographed sheets and ordered us to sing grace before our meal.

So the plan is Wednesday we cook pie, bread and desserts. Thursday is the big thing with a HUMUNGO turkey going in the oven at the butt ass crack o'dawn. We work all day making veggies and cheese sauce, potatoes, rolls, homemade cranberry sauce and gravy....Ok I am starving now. Anyway we do it all as a family and usually leave the non-cookers screaming at the TV in the living room. Fun is had by all.

Since getting married we would go to the in-laws because my Mom lived 2 hrs away. Now she lives here as do my sisters so we started to do it on a rotation and the good news is-This is my year folks. Why I am so excited is beyond me. I can pretty much eat zero pie or bread but it is the act of cooking for my family. I should put this to better use and volunteer somewhere but I think the feeling would be lost while mashing 1500 lbs of potatoes.

Anyway our tradition is if you have no where to go you come to our house. Anyone??

Now this is my second WOW!! Shortly after the turkey I see a house all decked out in full lights. Huh?? Not only is this against my moral code but I am also thinking -How the hell can you afford that all the way until December 25th?? I certainly can't. My decoration may not go up until December 23 if things don't start to look up. I may be explaining the candles in my home to the kids as an old Celtic tradition- LOL!

So gooble, gooble and let me know if I can cook something for you.