What I want to be doing right now is baking cookies, not writing. My creative muse appears to be hanging out in the pantry with the oatmeal and chocolate chips. But I’ve told her to wait so I can catch you up on the past week and a half.

After all, it’s been too long since I wrote a real post, and it seems like a ton of stuff has happened.

Let’s catch up on Thanksgiving weekend first, shall we?

With all extended family out of state now, we’re still trying to figure out our new “tradition” for this holiday. Last year we went to the beach, which was fun, but we kinda missed the transition between fall and Christmas. It felt like we were behind on Christmas from the day we arrived home until after New Year’s Day.

Still, this year we considered going out of town again – maybe even for a cruise. But we eventually rejected that option because…

1. Charlie actually ENJOYS cooking the meal. And it’s way easier for him to do in his own kitchen. (And besides, the cruise staff might limit his time in their kitchen.)
2. See above lack of transition. We didn’t want to snowmen and Santa displayed in tandem with our Halloween pumpkins until December 15 this year. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
3. Travel costs money. And if we really wanted all the hassle of traveling on the busiest travel weekend of the year, we might as well have gone to my parents’ house in Missouri.

So anyway, we enjoyed a lovely 20-pound turkey here at home. Charlie also cooked broccoli, asparagus and chestnut-sausage stuffing. (Does calling it that make me a Yankee? A Californian? Or a Southerner? I can’t remember who calls it dressing, but it’s not me.)

(I took absolutely zero pictures. Because I am a bad blogger. A bad, bad blogger.)

Of course, there was much football and leftovers, and I once again served up my specialty: a spotlessly clean kitchen. The dishes, they fairly shimmered.

(And my children arose and called me blessed during the commercials. Because I am a paragon. Of virtue and dishwashing.)

The evening entertainment – aside from football – was provided by Hannah. Her performance of “What time are we leaving for Black Friday tomorrow morning?” was such a hit that she gave 417 encores.

(Since we didn’t have anything to BUY on Black Friday and were just going out so she could experience it, I finally convinced her to sleep in till 8.)

Here’s a preview of everything that happened between Thanksgiving and today:

Mall rush, Christmas music, leftovers, further proof that Hannah is an anomaly in this family, decorating, demise of the prelit tree, leftovers, tchotchke overdose, deep freeze, trip to nowhere, leftovers, invisible band concert, 25 pages done on a new writing assignment, and brain mush.

From mall rush to brain mush, in a manner of speaking.

And while we’re on the topic of brain mush: I have to write another 25 pages this week. So any time I spend on my blog will be procrastination time. And depending on my level of rebelliousness, that might mean…

No posts for a week, OR

One (or more) per day.

So I’d appreciate it if you would pray that you don’t see me for a week.

Turkey with catchup; or the only leftover we DIDN’T eat is originally posted at: The Red Clay Diaries - Rambling down the dirt road of life Copyright 2007-2011. Use only with permission. Follow me on Twitter. I'm redclaydiaries