Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy holiday and a prosperous New Year!

Ready for Christmas

Turkey left overs remain in the refrigerator and the memories of another Thanksgiving meal are fading away. All remnants of autumn holidays have been put away for the season and glimmering lights replace the warm tones of a season past. The tree is up, stockings have been hung, some gifts already wrapped, and we are on to the Christmas holiday!

Black Friday

A few years ago, I ventured out on black Friday on a whim at 5 a.m. in the morning and absolutely loved the energy of the crowds. It had been the first time ever to experience the craziness of black Friday. Last year I had not ventured out quite as early, but did attempt the crowds earlier than normal. This year I decided to get up before 4 a.m. and take my daughter out on this excursion for the first time. I believe we have started a tradition! The plan was to purchase a specific gift item and then just enjoy the excitement of the crowds. About 11 hours later, with 90% of my list purchased, and two sets of tired feet...we returned home. The main thing is we spent some much deserved girl time together. Something which I appreciate these days considering my daughter needs less mom and daughter time with me as she gets older.

Unfortunately, the one thing I did not do in the morning, was read Friday's ads and so we will return to the stores to exchange one gift item for a better deal today. Then on to Christmas decorating...another tradition I am hoping to maintain over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving

Today my family was thankful to be together, in our own home, enjoying a quiet holiday meal together. This has been a very stressful and crazy year for our family so to enjoy time together is what we all were most thankful for today. And, what an amazing day it was....with a just as amazing meal. There was a warm fire in our fireplace all day, mulled wine, a little PS3 action, the Green Bay Packers game on TV, and finally a table full of traditional Thanksgiving faire.

Sunday Dinner

We continue to eat dinner as a family at least one day per week and it seems to be Sunday. I love cooking and have decided to make this day my experimental day of cooking. Yesterday, my husband requested Swedish Meatballs for dinner, which is a family favorite. I determined I was not able to experiment much with this meal and tried to make at least one new item which was the Braised Red Cabbage. I found a great recipe from my favorite chef - Guy Fieri on The Food TV Network. It was fabulous even though no one else in my family likes cabbage. Accompanying the meal was butternut squash soup, applesauce, German style cucumbers, and for dessert apple streudel and ice cream.

Soccer

Although it is quite blustery outside, the kids are still playing outdoor soccer. We had two days worth of games this weekend and now we are on to indoor practices for the season. This year is a new experience with trying out a club team for the first time. If I recall, we might get one month off before starting the year over again. So far our son loves it and can finally say he is on a winning team. On to basketball season next!

Cancer

When Matt went to rent his tuxedo for the black tie event in Chicago, he thought it would be most appropriate to go with pink. Apparently, they call him pinky at work because of his pink golf balls used at company golf outings. But more importantly, he took this opportunity to help support the cancer foundation.

Just about a couple months ago, Matt's step-sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is only 42 years old and has two young children. Fortunately, the cancer was caught early enough through a routine mammogram. However, doctors did find cancer cells within her lymph nodes, which meant surgery. The good news is they have not found the cancer spread to any major organs, and she has been advised by some, not to react too quickly on deciding whether or not to have a mastectomy at this point.

She is recovering well after going through the removal of lymph nodes this past week. There will be some ongoing problems with her arm on the side they took the lymph nodes. The good news is she can live with those problems and now has more time to determine whether or not to have a mastectomy. Chemo and radiation treatments will be next with the hopes she can be completely cured of the horrible disease which has taken over her life.