Holiday Break

Work is somewhat dampening my feelings of rest and relaxation this week. Huge release soon, and I was up ALL night finishing up some stuff because I REFUSE to work during this break with my family. So what WILL I be doing during this glorious five-day weekend?



Cooking dinner. I LOVE Thanksgiving dinner. My husband and I anticipate this wonderful meal months in advance! My specialties are baked macaroni & cheese (no one makes it as good as I do), turkey dressing, and potato salad. Chris makes the best turkey smoked greens. We also usually prepare corn, potato souffle, cranberry sauce, and cornbread. I'm about to get started shortly.

Reading. I, like most people who are married with kids, NEVER find time to just sit down and leisurely read. For someone who loves books so much, it's a shame that I don't get this opportunity much. Maybe I'll get back into this great programming book I love or possibly even FINALLY pick back up on Book 6 of Harry Potter.

Putting up the Christmas tree. This will mark the earliest that we will have done this! Every year I dream of decorating the tree on Thanksgiving evening after dinner. Christmas has definitely come earlier this year than most others and I'm excited about that! Best time of year FOR SURE!

Resting, resting, resting. I hope that what I do more than anything else is just lay around and relax. Whenever I get a break from work, I always feel this guilt about resting. I was raised that way though...a day off meant time to get chores done and go visit people you haven't seen in a long time. There's no resting! Well my hubby and I don't share this philosophy on life, so I'm more than happy to lay around in my pj's all day!



Dinner with family. We are going to my parents' house this year, as we do every year. Last year, we actually met at a restaurant not far from the hospital my grandmother was staying in at the time. My mom was with her 24 hours a day 7 days a week, so getting mom to leave for a little while for dinner was a task. But with things turning out the way they did, this year will be really special at my parents' house. We'll be sure not to take anything or anyone for granted anymore.

Try some new hairstyles and makeup. I used to be really good at styling my hair really pretty. After becoming a mom, that just took such a low priority. If I have a little time, I may play around with it this weekend. I also have a TON of makeup that I've bought over time that's accumulating. Might play around with that too; I used to be a glamour girl, and now it's like I don't even care anymore. It happens to many of us though...I just don't want to completely neglect my looks full time...I'm already going down that path now with my lack of exercise and my bad eating habits. I don't want to become a complete hag, if I can help it.

Starting a new blog. I used to post to this blog almost every single day. That was before all of my worlds began to collide. Before my family, church family, co-workers, and friends were all accessible to my thoughts and a recount of my actions via the same medium. It's made it difficult for me to be completely transparent. There are now repercussions for being honest and true to who you are online. So I'm going to do the same thing a good friend of mine has done. I'm creating a "private" blog where I can just be Tami and talk about the things that are a deep part of me and I that I may sometimes want trusted feedback on. I'll continue to post to this blog about the cool, funny and superficial things that are current. But I'm guarding my heart and not exposing every part of me to the public anymore.

That should be enough for 5 days. Next week is going to be ridiculously busy so I better enjoy every moment I can! Have a great Thanksgiving Day and remember to show and/or tell those around you how important they are to you!

Pre-Thanksgiving preparations

Every year since I've been married I've always spent the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week "talking" about how I plan to spend ALL DAY Wednesday slaving over a hot stove. And sure enough every year for 7 years, I have spent the Wednesday before Thanksgiving the exact same way: lounging in front of the TV with snacks and soda. Today marks the first time that I've ever actually followed through with my original plan.

My grandmother is still in the hospital (although we're finally starting to see some real progress!!) so my mom and dad were not able to cook dinner this year. This is the first time in my entire life that my parents haven't cooked Thanksgiving dinner. Every year, my parents take care of the bulk of the cooking, while my sister and I coordinate on who will bring which side dishes. I am famous for both the macaroni and cheese and the potato salad that I prepare. This year, I also cooked cornbread dressing and sweet potato souffle (which I actually made last year for the first time as well). My hubby is very honest, and I sometimes dread his comments if I ask his opinion of what I prepared. I need his honesty so that I can get better, but after spending 9 hours cooking, sometimes it can be tough to deal well with criticism. I know that he hates cornbread dressing, but that happens to be my favorite Thanksgiving dish. He tasted it, and he actually said that was the best dressing that he had ever tasted in his life. YAY! I know that the macaroni will be the bomb along with the other dishes. But I was really concerned about how that dressing would turn out. My hubby is preparing greens w/smoked turkey and has already bought the turkey from Honey Baked Ham.

So the complete menu consists of: Turkey, cornbread dressing, macaroni & cheese, greens, sweet potato souffle, cornbread, potato salad, cranberries, and Dutch apple pie a-la mode. And this is only for two adults and two toddlers. How do those grandmothers with about 40 different people rolling through their house get everything prepared? They must begin cooking Thanksgiving dinner on Halloween or something.

Hard to believe that this year is winding down. If we make it to December 31 unscathed I'll begin obesessing over our Spring Break trip to Disney next March before we know it. :-)

Attitude of Thanksgiving

It's so easy to think about what we don't have, isn't it? I wish I had a bigger home so that my kids could have more room to run around. I wish we had more money so that we wouldn't have to live paycheck to paycheck. I wish I had nicer clothes, more shoes, and trendier handbags, and on, and on, and on.

Thinking like this removes any focus at all on the things that we should be thankful for. I think about the fact that we spend all day taking and demanding. Why do we think we deserve so much? The Lord has provided my family with so much, and yet today I found myself throwing a little pity party for myself. You see, I was watching Oprah this afternoon because I heard it was taped in Macon, GA, a small town about 45 minutes south of my home. The show was a surprise episode of "Oprah's Favorite Things". She lavished the members of the studio audience with all kinds of AMAZING gifts. From tubs of yummy blood orange sorbet from Ciao Bella, to brand new $3K refrigerators made by LG. I actually sat there and cried during the first 7 or so minutes of the show, which was just bizarre. Looking back on it, I think I was just letting go of some of the tightly-wound emotion associated with the self-pity I've been feeling lately.

What am I feeling sad about? There are some things that are truly heart-breaking and tough to deal with, like my grandmother being bed-ridden in the hospital for the past month. But what about all of the things that I have to be happy about? I have two healthy kids. The most important thing to me on this earth besides my wonderful soulmate are my precious babies. They are my world. I do not take their health, happiness, and endless potential for granted. I have parents and other family members and friends who help us financially from time to time. Where would be be without them? All of our bills are current, I have the most amazing job ever, and a great church family. We have a refrigerator downstairs that is filled to capacity with loads of items to be cooked tomorrow night in preparation for our official national day of thanks. I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving Day. I am ready to make a formal declaration to God that I am so thankful for all that He has done, and that I will do all that I can to never take his blessings, grace and love for granted ever again.