Getting in the holiday spirit

Halloween has come and gone, and with little fanfare from me. Sure, we put up my light-up Halloween houses, and the pumpkin lights in the back window. And yes, I carved pumpkins with yakgirl and her boys. But it didn't feel much like the typical Halloween, what with being on the cruise at the time. Fun, yes, but not the norm. So now I'm all geared up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. As per the past two years, we're doing double-duty Thanksgiving this year, hitting up the Scientist's family Thanksgiving at noon, and then to my parents' house for dinner that evening. He and I went shopping yesterday, and it was great to see all of the autumn colors and turkeys and such on display. I think it's because Halloween was so low-key this year, I'm really gunning for Thanksgiving. We bought "fall chutney" from Harry & David yesterday, which has apples and raisins and cranberries in it. I'm really looking forward to that, and drinking the Glogg we bought a few months ago. And I want to make pumpkin pies this year, too. The Scientist hates all things pumpkin, but too bad! I want to bake.

Making me even more amped for the holidays is the fact that I put up Christmas lights yesterday. I know, I know. Normally we don't do any Christmas decorating until the weekend after Thanksgiving. However, the weather was AMAZING in Chicagoland yesterday, and I couldn't resist taking advantage of it. I mean, who wants to be on a ladder hanging lights when it's 30 degrees and you can't feel your fingers? Yesterday I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, no jacket. How could I pass up the opportunity?

So yeah, HOLIDAYS! Bring 'em on!