Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

I figured out why I was so stressed the other day...it's because Christmas is so close to Thanksgiving this year and I was subconsciously worried that I'd run out of prep time. Not like I hand make all my gifts anyways or anything, so I don't know why I'm making such a big deal. And amazingly, I've already gotten so much crossed off! One Thanksgiving dinner under my belt and Christmas decorations almost done and I am feeling super accomplished. 

Saturday was the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special, so what better way to celebrate than by hosting a viewing party and Friendsgiving dinner? It was my first time roasting a turkey and first time de-gibleting one. It was just as gross as I though it'd be. I had to have Julie Ann come over and help, since she'd watched her mom do it before, and we both definitely wore gloves. Shane got to video the whole thing because I knew it'd be pretty funny, and I was right!!

Cooked up pretty nice if I do say so myself. 

In fact, our only major mishap of the evening was when the macaroni and cheese packet ripped and exploded everywhere, then the paper packet landed on the hot hot burner. Julie Ann saved us from a kitchen fire on that one because I was so confused by the packet ripping out of my hand that I didn't even realize it was smoking on the stove. 

I quickly ran out of counter space and trivets and had to do some improvising, and I also made a gigantic mess. I am most thankful that Shane is so wonderful and did a fantastic job cleaning up after everyone left :) 

You like my "Makin' Bacon" S&P shakers? Thanks, Hannah

I still have plenty of family Thanksgiving dinners to go to but I'm already mentally moved on to Christmas now. Here's a preview of one of my favorite additions, a new tree star for a new (much larger) Christmas tree!

Our zombies and Psy made a new friend too!

Now I have GOT to go to bed, somehow I signed myself up for a turkey run at 6 AM in the freezing cold. I was supposed to be running to build up endurance, but that didn't happen. I may just show up, pick up the t-shirt and then go back to sleep. 

Dealing with pre-holiday stress, and a turkey picture!

As we all know, the holidays can be a very stressful time. Apparently for me, I don't even have to wait for the holidays to start enjoying the stress. Yesterday I was on the verge of a major breakdown, and to cope I decided to draw turkeys. 

I must just have a thing for turkeys, because I drew this one last year. 

But seriously, though, I wrote a to do list on Tuesday and came up with two and a half pages of things. 

I don't know how I have this many things to put on a to do list, but there it is. Don't worry, not everything has to be done tomorrow, in fact most aren't urgent at all, just things that have to be done in the somewhat near future. Writing it all out like this helped me visualize what all needs to be done, and it also let me empty my mind so I don't worry about forgetting every little thing. I didn't realize how much had been weighing on me until I wrote it all out like that. 

I also realized that most of my to do items are things that shouldn't be stressful, they should be FUN, like buying Christmas decorations for the new house or hanging up the picture frames I just got. I have decided to stop my ridiculous stressing and just ENJOY myself and the holidays. Because what's the point of buying Christmas gifts if you don't get to enjoy buying and gifting them? That's the whole point. But if I don't touch up the ceiling paint in the kitchen, it won't kill me.