Two days until Thanskgiving. I’m looking forward to just spending some down time with my family and friends, hanging out in my Mom’s house that will be ’swole up’ with company, bursting at the seams with laughter and lots of “member when” conversations. Playing cards (um, ok WATCHING THEM play cards), making up silly games and even sillier songs for my nieces/nephews. The last few weeks have been crazy – my oldest childhood friends lost their dad; another friend had a mild stroke; another had her blood pressure hit numbers way beyond the danger zone. Add that to my FM flare-ups/exhaustion and some other oddities that I refuse to give time, attention or energy. It’s been a rough year for my family so this window of downtime is going to be that much more precious, that much more memorable.

Princess So Fabulous and I haven’t done our ‘Christmas Workshop’ in a few years so it’s time to revive the tradition. Hmmm…considering we now have a 4yr old and a 2yr old in the fold (plus 5 & 2-yr old cousins on hand this year), we might have to make alternative plans. But we can at least begin to plan our items and make lists of supplies. I think we’ll make personalized Christmas cards this year, complete with original drawings by the Princess. (They’re all the rage you know!) In the meantime, I’ll gather all that hyperactivity into my Mom’s kitchen, make the Princess my ‘supervisor’ and stir up homemade cookies with the kids.

I’ve got an awesome gift idea twirling around in my head for my siblings. Not sure I can pull it off though but I’m gonna do some investigative work. Hopefully I can get it done in time for Christmas. We’ll see. My grandmother has been on my mind a lot lately. I keep forgetting to ask my mom if she has any of Gram’s quilts/blankets. Some of that material would make the perfect accompaniment for what I have in mind. Lawdy, so many ideas, so little energy.

That reminds me – I need to get hopping where gifts are concerned. I haven’t purchased nary a one. Up until last night, I hadn’t made a single decision as to what anyone was getting. Even more surprising, BigBro#4 and wife JUST started shopping this past weekend. They’re usually done with most of their gifts wrapped by this time of year. If you only saw how much they buy, you’d understand why they start so early. Whew!

Last year I skipped the Christmas decorations. Mostly because I was knee-deep in preparations for my book release party and was already frazzled. But I’m ready to work it out this year. My plan was to buy a prelit tree this year but it may have to wait until next year. My mom says I’m missing the best part – stringing the lights – but since I have ‘unannounced’ episodes of muscle weakness, I’m trying to simplify where I can. I’m dusting off my collection of Afrocentric ornaments, hoping to add a few more to the collection, trying to decide where I’m gonna put my Mom’s favorite chair (it’s in the Christmas tree spot. So many decisions…Hmmm, I guess since I got out of hosting Thanksgiving, I may be on Christmas detail. We’ll see.

Yep, plans are in effect for this holiday season. Just need to figure out who’s hosting Christmas. Then it’s on to planning my birthday. Whoo-hoo!!

Yeah, Turkey Day should be very interesting. I overheard BigSis#2 asking Mom about liquor. Um…don’t nobody drink but “Uncle Pete”. Stay tuned folks. Between that and the macaroni-n-cheese showdown of 2007….it might get ugly. LOL (Come by tomorrow, I’ll put you up on the mac/cheese showdown.)