December Highlights

Usually at the end of the month you review the highlights that happened to you. I'm doing it backwards. I am going to share with you what I'm looking forward to in the next month. As all of you know, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season. Since you all will be expecting it I will get it out of the way first so I can have your undivided attention for the rest of this post. I am looking forward to Christmas and everything that comes with it such as decorating, my house smelling like pine, and Christmas songs. I like the Christmas Eve service with lighting the candles while singing silent night and driving around looking at other peoples industrious decorations. I like presents. I like eating lots of food and baking lots of desserts. Along with the holidays I love New Years Eve. I like playing games, staying up till midnight, and eating jalapeno poppers.
Alright now the expected is out of the way. I used to write a lot of email updates and send them out to my friends and family regardless whether or not they wanted to read all about my goings on. Over the years, my updates have waned to several a year. This year, I am very excited because I am going to send out my very first Christmas newsletter. Hopefully, I can figure out how to put in pictures where I want pictures, but if not it will be all text.
I have a week break from school, which is just what I need. I do school year round so I don't often get breaks. Today in fact, I'm starting my first session of my last class before my internship.
I am over my NaNoWriMo attempt for this year and am looking forward to doing some real writing on a book I have been working on for a long while. I need to just finish it. I like this story a lot and I do want to finish it because it just might be the best thing I have ever written. I also want begin editing a children's story that I finished in September. My free time will diminish as the new year begins so I want to get what writing done that I can, while I can. Also along the writing vein, I am researching digital audio recorders.
I could go on and share many other things that I'm looking forward to in the coming month, but most of it has to do with eating and friends. Those are always some of the best points in my life. Take a second and let me know what you are really looking forward to in December.

Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays. I have had Thanksgiving with lots of different people and interesting situations. Most of my Thanksgivings have been fairly traditional with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pies. I spent a semester in Fiji and on Thanksgiving we had hermit crab races. My crab won one of the races. I like to spend some time contemplating what I am thankful for in the quiet times between the craziness.
Food is one of the best things about Thanksgiving. I love eating the crispy turkey skin, pecan pies, and real whipped cream by the spoonful. I love that stuffed feeling where all you can do is sip coffee.
Growing up we would have ping pong tournaments after dinner. Often we played round robin. Nothing quite like being so stuffed you can hardly walk and circling a ping pong table and hit a ball. As people dropped out, we had to start running in order to hit the ball. The very best was if you made it to the last two people. You no longer had to run around you just had to spin in a circle after every hit.
Football is an essential part to many people's Thanksgiving. Some must watch the game and dinner is eaten around the TV or with people running back and forth to see the score. these days it is easier as all you have to do is pull out your phone to get the newest update. Others like to get out in the mud and in the cold and clash around with a football.
As the afternoon passes the games come out. Apples to Apples is a popular game for lots of people. The game of things, jenga, or pit also bring out the laughs and the competitive spirit. Sometimes taboo comes out or guitar hero. Everyone eats more pie and one by one everyone heads home with the left overs of the goodies they brought.
The best part of Thanksgiving is spending time with friends. What is better than eating mass quantities of food, playing games, laughing, and enjoying being with friends and family? What is your favorite part of Thanksgiving?