Thanksgiving!
Brandon and I are hosting our first Thanksgiving this year. It's not our first big holiday dinner - we had 15 people over for Easter dinner in our tiny condo last year and it went fantastically if you look back at it now. It's one of my very favorite memories, in fact, because Jaimee was there and being spectacularly Herself that day. At the time, however, I had to get ragingly drunk in order to survive the stress of the day. Yes, on Easter. I am super classy. So this year is significant in that it will be my first large holiday meal thrown while completely sober (minus the few sips of wine we agreed I can have every once in a while).
But we pared down the guest list quite a bit, so it's just going to be a handful of our closest friends, and possibly one or two orphans. Most people are with their families on Thanksgiving anyway, so available guests are fewer. We're not going to make the entire meal either, only around 75%. This is the menu so far: turkey, ham (not a typo -- for a proper Missouri Thanksgiving, apparently both meats are a requirement), mashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole. That last would probably have not made the list only we've been getting tons of fresh green beans from our CSA that we can't finish, so we've been freezing. This seems like the perfect occasion to use them -- I just tried green bean casserole for the first time last year and found it to be delicious even with canned green beans. Our friends will probably bring at least a dish each as well, so that adds up to so much food I can't even stand it! I'm getting quite excited.
I started the holiday season a bit early yesterday. I had the day off work. The original plan had been to track down some second-hand maternity clothes, but I managed to acquire enough through other means that I don't particularly need any more until I start getting a bit bigger and cease fitting into pre-pregnancy clothes completely. So instead, new plan: I started Christmas shopping instead! I usually start officially shopping on Black Friday, but I thought this might be less stressful. I ended up going to eight different stores. I am positive that this is a record for the most shopping I have ever done in one day. I did manage to finish half my Christmas shopping, though, hooray! Plus I added in an extra stop to pick up new running shoes for me at 50% off at my favorite running clearance store, and an extra-exciting stop to buy my first baby item: the car seat! It is way early to start shopping, of course, but we had a 15% off coupon and that is the only item that I have researched so far and knew what I wanted. The rest will probably wait until after the holidays. I don't know if anyone has told you this, but babies? Freaking expensive. Just so you're aware.
I am supposed to be running a 12-mile training run right now, but it is pouring down rain and my husband came down last night with what is either a cold of some kind or a mysterious "illness" so he can get out of our 12-mile run, so he is sleeping. Hopefully it will stop raining in the afternoon, and maybe we can go out and do it later. Still planning on the Las Vegas Half-Marathon. It will likely be my worst half-marathon time ever, but Mom and Sarah have graciously offered to hang in the back with me so I won't feel bad about making the whole family wait an extra hour for me to drag my pregnant ass across the finish line. Just the guys will have to wait (Dad, Brandon, and Sarah's husband Mark), and that's their own fault for being so stinking fast, now isn't it?
But we pared down the guest list quite a bit, so it's just going to be a handful of our closest friends, and possibly one or two orphans. Most people are with their families on Thanksgiving anyway, so available guests are fewer. We're not going to make the entire meal either, only around 75%. This is the menu so far: turkey, ham (not a typo -- for a proper Missouri Thanksgiving, apparently both meats are a requirement), mashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole. That last would probably have not made the list only we've been getting tons of fresh green beans from our CSA that we can't finish, so we've been freezing. This seems like the perfect occasion to use them -- I just tried green bean casserole for the first time last year and found it to be delicious even with canned green beans. Our friends will probably bring at least a dish each as well, so that adds up to so much food I can't even stand it! I'm getting quite excited.
I started the holiday season a bit early yesterday. I had the day off work. The original plan had been to track down some second-hand maternity clothes, but I managed to acquire enough through other means that I don't particularly need any more until I start getting a bit bigger and cease fitting into pre-pregnancy clothes completely. So instead, new plan: I started Christmas shopping instead! I usually start officially shopping on Black Friday, but I thought this might be less stressful. I ended up going to eight different stores. I am positive that this is a record for the most shopping I have ever done in one day. I did manage to finish half my Christmas shopping, though, hooray! Plus I added in an extra stop to pick up new running shoes for me at 50% off at my favorite running clearance store, and an extra-exciting stop to buy my first baby item: the car seat! It is way early to start shopping, of course, but we had a 15% off coupon and that is the only item that I have researched so far and knew what I wanted. The rest will probably wait until after the holidays. I don't know if anyone has told you this, but babies? Freaking expensive. Just so you're aware.
I am supposed to be running a 12-mile training run right now, but it is pouring down rain and my husband came down last night with what is either a cold of some kind or a mysterious "illness" so he can get out of our 12-mile run, so he is sleeping. Hopefully it will stop raining in the afternoon, and maybe we can go out and do it later. Still planning on the Las Vegas Half-Marathon. It will likely be my worst half-marathon time ever, but Mom and Sarah have graciously offered to hang in the back with me so I won't feel bad about making the whole family wait an extra hour for me to drag my pregnant ass across the finish line. Just the guys will have to wait (Dad, Brandon, and Sarah's husband Mark), and that's their own fault for being so stinking fast, now isn't it?