Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I have to say it was nice. I spent the whole day with Joe and his family like last year: Mass at the Basilica, out to breakfast, played Monopoly with Joe's brother and his girlfriend, turkey and football with the extended fam, and then Joe and I sat around eating pie and watching TV and being generally lazy and relaxed for the rest of the night, until he brought me home. Seeing brothers, sisters, and cousins leaving throughout the afternoon to have their second Thanksgiving with the significant other's family, I was actually glad that my family lives 3 hours away. With our families so far apart, Joe and I can't split the holiday into pieces, a few hours here, a few hours there. I'd rather spend the whole holiday in one place. We don't get to see everyone on every holiday, but I don't think that's the point anyway.
Today is Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Last year I actually went to Office Max at 6am, but this year I elected to stay home and sleep until noon. Which I sort of feel bad about because poor Joe has been stuck at work all day while I've been asleep. Ah well. Rather than go out and join the holiday shopping madness at the crazily overcrowded malls and stores, I am electing to stay home and shop on ebay, which is much more fun. Now if only the items I've already paid for would start arriving, I'd be feeling very good.
Holiday shopping this year is sort of slowly driving me insane. It usually does. Certain people on my list I have no trouble shopping for, like Joe. He starts off hard because I'm not sure what he wants (because he'll never tell me what he wants) but gradually I always find myself able to piece together a random selection of things I think he'll like, that he probably would never have thought of getting. By the end I'm having so much fun buying for him that I have to force myself to calm down and realize there are a lot more people to shop for. ;) On the bright side, he still has a birthday coming up in January.
My own family are usually the ones I have the most problems with, Mom in particular. This year I've got Dad's present all planned out, and Grandma's. Kristie is sort of throwing me for a loop but I have some ideas. Believe it or not, Mom's gift was actually the first one I had figured out this year, but then she went out and bought it for herself (*sigh :)*), so now I am back to square one and completely at a loss. She's a challenge because I don't want to buy her any more stuff that just sits around and collects dust (heaven knows she already has more than enough of THAT). Actually that really goes for everybody on my list this year. My family are packrats to the extreme... we certainly don't need encouragement! :)
Hmm... I think I have an idea. :)
So, it's really not all that bad. I love Christmas, I love giving presents, and I even like the challenge of coming up with just what to give everyone. So I hope they like the things I picked out. :)
I suppose that's enough rambling for one day. I should be filling out paperwork for my new job anyhow. :P