put your turkeys away

Like every other holiday and major event, Thanksgiving was a blur.

In true Italian fashion, we had WAY too much food. So much so, that tonight, we had the family back over for round 2. And besides a little bit of butternut squash puree (which was a surprise dish from Mr. KK's uncle), we finished everything off. And not a moment too soon. I feel like I'm going to turn into a starch.

And because the holiday season is all about tradition, Mr. KK and I went out for our annual Black Friday shopping trip. NOW, before you image the two of us duking it out in from of Walmart for a $4 toaster oven, let me remind you that we are sane.

I love going out on Black Friday not for the doorbuster deals, but because to me, it signals the start of the Christmas season. I love going to mall and hearing the Christmas carols for the first time. Seeing the lights and decorations. And catching a glimpse of the big guy with the white beard in the red suit.

And to be quite honest with you, I do more shopping for ME than I do for anyone else. I may be organized, but there's not way in hell I know what I'm getting everyone for Christmas in November. I mean, really. That day of crazy deals is pretty much free reign for me to fill my own closet with goodies.

I love telling people we go out on Black Friday because they look at me in horror. "Are you crazy?" and "You wouldn't catch me anywhere near a mall!"

I think so many people have that perception that they all stay home. Because we arrived at the mall at 9:30am, got a fantastic garage parking spot, and walked throughout the halls of the mall freely. It was just like any other day. Sure, the lines in the stores were long, but we have a system: Mr. KK stands in line the minute we get into the store, and I speed shop until he gets near the front, which signals that it's time for me to stop buying. Not only do we make good use of the time, but it curbs the spending.

And as much as I like Thanksgiving (hell, we had it TWICE), and it seems like the turkey is being pushed out the back door by reindeer and elves, I'm always excited at the start of the Christmas season.

Tomorrow I'll take down all of the Thanksgiving decorations, and figure out how we're going going to fit 8 bins of Christmas shit into a 4-bin-sized house (we lost some space in the move). But even though we lost space inside, we gained a patio outside of our beautiful French doors, which seem to be the perfect frame for an outside tree. That's right - TWO trees this year! One inside and decorated to the max (I think we're going with a multi-colored theme this year, opposed to the blue and silver theme the last few years that matched out living room), and one outside on the patio, filled with white lights, that we can enjoy while we're in the kitchen or enjoying dinner.

Move over Tom - Rudolph is here!

BTW, I did by one gift today, so I consider Black Friday to be a success.