Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving for me this year was pretty lonely. I was on call for work and had to stay in Orlando and didn't even end up working at all! I was pretty bummed when I woke up in the morning but I turned the parade on and had a nice cup of coffee and the day started to look a little better. During the parade I started taking all my fall decorations down and putting up my Christmas stuff. At this point, I was not really feeling any of the holiday cheer that is such a big part of the season. I think it had something to do with the fact that it is still soooo warm outside here, I rarely even put the roof on my jeep! When you can go outside in shorts and a tank top and not be cold, generally, my opinion is there is still a lot of time before the Christmas season but not here! Here are some pictures of my decorations:

Overall the decorations started to get my in the holiday spirit but not as much as they usually do. (Holiday spirit has never been hard for me to find before, normally after Halloween I'm ready to start singing carols...or at least looking forward to the time when that would be appropriate) For the rest of the day I made some snacks and watched holiday movies on TV. I also started working on some Christmas crafts throughout the day and made a plan of attack for my later black friday trip to the outlets of Orlando. I watched both versions of Miracle on 34th Street and decided that the newer one is much more sinister than the earlier one and says alot about the changes in the ideas of entertainment. I also watched some classics like Beauty and the Beast and Aaladin which always cheer me up! Around 930 I decided it was time to go to the outlets to start my Christmas shopping. I had a plan but still was not feeling as excited as I have in past years. I put the windows down and turned the Christmas music on and then it happened....
While listening to "The Christmas Song" and driving by an apartment complex with lights everywhere I found my Christmas spirit!!
All of a sudden I knew that Christmas was coming and I could not wait to buy presents for everyone on my list. It was a perfect moment.
After that, the outlet shopping was hugely successful! I am almost completely done with my shopping already! I still have a few people to buy for and some things to finish up but I have plenty of time for that! I had so many bags by the time I left the outlets at 2 AM on Friday that I'm sure people thought I was crazy. One person ever asked me if anything was left! I can't wait till everyone opens their presents. Here are all the bags I was carrying around:

I spent the majority of the rest of the weekend relaxing and making crafts. I am very glad that I found my Christmas spirit at last and am looking forward to a wonderful birthday weekend with the whole family!