Happy Thanksgiving

Oh, gosh, it sure does feel good to chill today. I’m not going to think about work or anything. Wonder if I can pull that off? Heh.

BF is still in bed, but he’s going to go to his sister’s for a huge family meal he couldn’t get out of, my daughter is over to her father’s where she’s got to cook for him and her brother BEFORE going to work…might I say she’s not happy about that.

And, me?

Well, I really have no family to speak of except for my kids, so I’ll be sitting home and, hopefully, decorating the tree. I’m going to see if I can’t talk BF into helping me get into the attic before he leaves so I can get the decorations down before he leaves so I can at least get that out of the way.

I love Thanksgiving usually, but this one is kind of weird. Before today, I had it all planned. I knew everyone was going to be busy elsewhere and the first thing I thought of when I learned that was…I don’t have to cook! Visions of kicking back, watching holiday movies, trimming the tree, and having the house to myself sounded delicious!

And…then…it’s now Thanksgiving and, well, I’m thinking maybe the idea of doing those things sounded really good, but I don’t think it’s cutting it.

It’s kind of quiet really.

And I’m starting to look back at what’s happened lately – an ex-boyfriend died of cancer a few days ago and a young man of 31 who my daughter knew was drinking, ran his car off the road and killed himself just a day or two after that. I’m sure the families of both these guys aren’t exactly having a Happy Thanksgiving either.

And it’s kind of making me sad.

The ex-boyfriend was Mike Huether of Pungoteague. I had known Mike throughout high school, but never really got to know him. It wasn’t until years later when I saw him again and I’m not really sure where it was or what happened, but we decided to go out on a date.

We had fun times, but it didn’t work out. Two years down the road, we broke up and I never saw him again.

His death came as a surprise because I didn’t even know he had cancer. He was only 52. Talk about a wake-up call.

Then, a couple of days ago, the son of the guy my daughter worked for had stopped off at this restaurant that his father owned and he was very drunk, so I hear. They tried sobering him up with pepsi, but they let him go out the door. It was only about 5 in the afternoon.

He was on the road going to his house when he went in a ditch, the truck overturned and he was tossed out into the field. He died on the way to the hospital. The guy was only 31.

Horrible, simply horrible.

So, it’s kind of a sad Thanksgiving this year and being alone isn’t helping.

I guess I’ll go do some cleaning. Maybe I’ll take a nice, hot shower and pull out a Christmas movie. Hope everyone is having a Happy Thanksgiving…and…can you save the drumstick for me?

‘Tis the Pre-Christmas Season…

Jingle bells…jingle bells…anyone in the Christmas spirit yet? Okay, stop smirking. I’m sitting here watching a Christmas movie and the holiday cheer is contagious.

Actually, I’ve been thinking a lot about Christmas lately. And the first thing on the agenda is getting a new Christmas tree. I’ve had my old tree for nearly twenty years and it’s time for an update!

Amanda was over from King George for a few days. Oh, you remember her. She lived with me for awhile, called me Mom, the whole shebang…then she moved on. Quite upset at the time but I’m good with it now.

So, she came over for a few days because her father is co-signing for her for a new Jeep Cherokee – the same kind as my daugher’s only newer – and she wanted us all to do something Saturday night. I had waited on tables all day long and really wasn’t in the mood, but the girl is relentless. I had so much work to do with the tours, but I just couldn’t say no.

My daughter and I had planned to go to Salisbury to look at Christmas trees so I told Amanda that’s what we’ll do….shop for a tree and go out to Texas Road House afterwards.

It was a plan.

Our first stop was Target, and they had beautiful trees, but the price tag just wasn’t in my budget, so we kept on. Our next stop was Boscov’s in the mall. Now, Boscov’s has an excellent Christmas section, but again, price tags were in the $200 – $400 range. Ouch.

We gave up on it and did a little shopping in the mall (got my son a sweatshirt from Hollister’s and a couple of pair of boxers from Aeropostle), then headed out to Texas Road House where we dined on steak, baked potato, salad and all the rolls you could eat – ymmm.

So, no tree, but at least we have an idea what’s out there.

This tree I have now has a little bit of history to it. I had just gotten a job at a department store and used my first paycheck to buy it. It was the most beautiful tree in stock. I remember paying about $80 for it but at that time, that was expensive. And, for someone who had to go to work to support the kids, I really couldn’t afford it but it’s lasted for almost twenty years. The tree stand has to be supported with a book, but the needles are all intact.

So, why a new one? I’m not sure except there’s a certain kind of tree I’m looking for and it would look so good in here. The one I really want is $400 but I think that’s kind of ridiculous to pay for something you’re only going to use once a year.

Ah well…I’ll keep you updated. Meanwhile…jingle bells…jingle bells…

Tags: Christmas shopping, Christmas spirit, Christmas movie, King George, Texas Road House, Hollister’s, Target, Jeep Cherokee