It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Pumpkins and mums on the front porch will soon give way to hand-traced turkeys hanging on the fridge followed by Christmas trees with blinking lights. I don't like to get ahead of the game -- you know, like most stores have already done with Christmas decorations galore cramming the aisles -- but I do anticipate the coming days with much glee.

It means I can use the Thanksgiving dishes that used to be Thanksgiving and Christmas dishes before I found -- and bought -- the three other Christmas patterns I love so much. I remember how my grandmother used to buy her best friend a new piece of this set each year as a Christmas gift. I fell in love with it back then and love it's classic design more each year. So Carolyn, here's to a beautifully set table, and to you for inspiring what has become a dearly loved tradition in our home. Sadly, the pattern has been discontinued.

One of the Christmas sets I really love I spied in La Crosse, Wisconsin, while travelling with my husband on a business trip. I finally found the set at a department store locally, and turns out they were only a one season wonder. Jeez...I'm o-fer here. But I just add to the collection, mix and match, and enjoy the holidays.

I hadn't planned for this post to be all about dishes. I really wanted to reflect on all the things that make me love this time of year. But it just goes to show you how much the little things -- place settings, favorite ornaments, annual Christmas Eve service at church -- contribute to the much loved traditions that can't be bought or wrapped up and tied with a bow. And it's those things that make it a most wonderful time of the year.

The Pioneer Woman

Ladies, you must read this true story. Not half, not the first few screens before you get tired of pressing the down arrow on your keyboard. Read it all. Men, probably not your thing.

I wanna be her when I grow up.

Totally Random Thoughts

Look...my hubsy's initials are all in a row on the computer keyboard. Random, yes.

Really?

You tell me...

It's What's for Dinner

I seriously dread the daily question, "What's for dinner?" Not because I don't know what's for dinner (most of the time anyway), but because I wonder what it really matters. Like, do you sit around and try to determine if you're okay with the menu? Are you really anticipating how each bite will taste? Or is it your little way of asking how much longer until I get in the kitchen and start cooking dinner?

Tonight, for those of you that care, we are having chicken fried rice. There. I said it before they asked. And when they do ask I'll say I already posted it for the world to see and if you read my blog as often as you claim to, you'd know. So keep up, my family.

Someone will pick out the peas and someone else will pick out the carrots, but the other two of us will savor every bite, me even more so than usual because I beat them to the punch.

I Told You So

More money for using reusable bags...

By the way, when I went to CVS the other day to get my green tag and bag, no one in the store knew what I was talking about, not even the supervisor. I told her she'd be hearing about it from corporate soon and would say, "You know, that lady told me so."

Thank You, Estee Lauder

Even our substitute postwoman knows that I like to get free stuff in the mail. Seems I won another cosmetic giveaway -- Estee Lauder sent me their Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex. It's worth $40 - maybe the odds for a huge haul are swinging in my favor...