It's Beginning to Look...

A lot like not Christmas. Yes, I mean that. Southern California....blue skies, green grass, palm trees. What in the...I better be quiet, that is nothing, nothing to gripe about! I do MISS the snow in Kansas, the bitter freezing wind that burned our cheeks, the sound of the snow shoveling trucks in the morning, and waking up to three inches of snow packing the ground knowing we had to drive to work that morning (Kansas schools and offices close for nothing!!). But, who can complain when the coldest it gets in the South Bay is the 50's? It's beautiful.

Thanksgiving here was so relaxing. We did nothing. Ahhhh, so nice. We cooked our own Thanksgiving meal by ourselves for the first time ever. I thought it would be so depressing and lonely not to be with family, but in actuality it was wonderful. All of us stuffed ourselves on chicken (we don't like turkey) and dressing, veggies, mashed potatoes and pecan pie. Yummo! I even had a Coke for Thanksgiving. I was thankful!

So did anyone go shopping Friday. I have to be honest here and say that I had never personally been shopping on black Friday & had never wanted to either. I hate big crowds. It's one of the things that keep me from buying Disneyland passes....I do not want to spend money to go stand in line. Well, I have some serious shop-a-holic girlfriends that invited me to go with them. I did. I LOVED IT!!! The crowds weren't horrific (which I guess can partly be blamed on the economy?) although we did stand in line outside of a few stores. It was all worth it at 4am, there is a Starbucks on every corner. It was a nice greeting at 4:45 after the first store so we could evaluate where we were headed next and what deals we found at the first store. So much fun! That evening, after my four hour afternoon nap (literally) we had a surprise party to go to. I love a good surprise party, especially when it's thrown by the husband and the wife is completely taken by surprise. We had a blast! I have never been so tired before, but it was all worth it! And on Saturday we burned our fireplace for the first time and decorated the house for Christmas. We decided to go with an old fashioned/homemade Christmas decor this year. So far it is working out great. I used what antique ornaments I had, we strung popcorn and cranberries for garland and I tied the girls' pinecones that they decorated to the tree. I also used some of our red and gold ornaments that we had, but only if they looked old fashioned because our tree was a little bare. I still want to string some more garland. I didn't think I would enjoy the way the popcorn and cranberries looked, but it's gorgeous. I think I may do it every year. Oh, and Lowe's has real wreaths on sale...their smell is intoxicating! We bought one for the front door & I love to walk up to it everyday just so I can breathe it in!

Considering how lame I am, I still haven't taken my camera to be fixed, so I'll leave you with a fun picture of Mallorie. She was playing the whole "Hollywood Diva" look this weekend. So Sunday for church was no different! Have a super week...

ps.. it was totally chilly Sunday morning before church, but a seater just wouldn't go with the outfit. I love having girls!! We're so fun.