We need a little Christmas, right this very moment...

As soon as the turkey is digested, the children peeled off my legs, and I return to my humble abode...it's time to start decorating for Christmas! No, my living room is not on fire:

This is my grandmother's old aluminum Christmas tree, very cool and very hard to photograph in all it's glory. The flame throwing thing in the back is the "color wheel", which turns the tree bright primary colors as the wheel turns, squeaking in a very vintage type style the whole time.

Of course, as soon as the first weekend in December arrives, so does the real tree! (the aluminum tree is moved to the bedroom) After an arduous trek to the local Lowe's...in 65 degree weather no less...I secured the following tree:

A 6-7 footer (more like 6 foot, barely!) for $40, and to date I have not broken my "no tree falling off this car" record!

Of course, the roof lights are up, shaming all the neighbors into attempting to do something to their house:

The rest of the house soon followed suit with decorations, with my collection of vintage Christmas knick knacks seeing the light of day once again:
A small glimpse into my vast vintage bottle brush tree collection:
Some local wildlife:
My village houses (under threat of Bumble attack) with a Santa flying around (for the kids, you know):
This really cool $10 aluminum mini wall tree I found a couple of years ago:
Bing, of course, must be honored:
Here we have "the white owl" - an ornament I found on the floor of Montgomery Wards (yes, THAT LONG AGO) on or about Christmas Eve. It was dirty, missing a foot, and had been kicked around somewhat. The love of Christmas made my heart grow 10 sizes that day, and I brought it home:
A sampling of the vintage pinecones I have on my tree:
Old timey Santa head magnet:
And here we have a great glass snowflake window ornament a friend gave me years ago. Within 3 seconds of taking this photo, it mysteriously snapped off it's connector and fell to the floor, shattering one of it's snowflake limbs. I was not happy!

A small view of my snowman collection on a shelf in the kitchen:
My very own "elf on the shelf" to make sure I behave during the holidays:

And last but not least, this is what happens when I take one of the village houses outside for a woodsy type photograph:

My camera did not focus properly on both house and squirrel, and for this I was very angry! What an awesome shot!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

Thanksgiving day dawned warm and bright, and was I ever ready! I had already made the obligatory Butterscotch Pies the night before:

With that arduous 10 minute task out of the way, I was able to relax in the am and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade instead. Here's my favorite float...Tom Turkey - leader of the masses being roasted, baked, barbecued and fried this very day:

The hosts below spent more time talking about why they were there than showing me why they were there. LAME. I don't give a crap how many cameramen it takes for you to film the damn Spiderman balloon. SHOW THE BALLOON:

Towards 12pm, I felt the big man about to make his presence:

Here he is! And so, at 12pm PST, Thanksgiving is officially over and Christmas is ON:

The parade over, I was unable to procrastinate any longer and concentrated all my efforts making my Thanksgiving offerings for the family table:

DON'T MOCK THE STOVE TOP. It's the perfect food, all salty and bready and I think there is some "secret spice mix" involved somehow. The end result below, after much watching chicken stock boil (10 minutes), adding bread crumbs (2 minutes), and stirring the pot (3 minutes). YUMMY!

I managed to save a few bread crumbs to serve to Ingrate Bastard as a holiday treat:

The car now loaded down with HOMEMADE stuffing, HOMEMADE pies, and other stuff (OK, I admit, the olives were not homemade), I made the LONG AND ARDUOUS 3 mile trip to the parent's house. Upon entry, I was immediately accosted by the nieces and nephews:

Bros, just hanging out waiting for dinner to start:

The smell of toasted marshmallows led us all to the table. My sister in law Misty makes wonderful yams for the holidays:

And the fun begins! Olives on fingers, a family tradition dating back to the dark ages of the 1970s. Thank god the children don't have to wear the holiday earth tone plaids and polyester dresses we did:

Look at this cutie! My niece is all ready for her meal, and able to smile for Auntie at the same time:

SOME PEOPLE don't appreciate the fine qualities of Stove Top stuffing. I won't say who:

OTHERS take the whole "photos with olives" a bit too artistically. I won't say who:

While others simply enjoy gorging on the meal:

Another Stove Top critic:

But I have my fan base still:

SOME would rather eat their fingers than dine on Stove Top:

After the loud and raucous meal came to a merciful end, I took the kids downstairs for some ornament crafts and photos while suckers....I mean others...upstairs were cleaning up the table and kitchen. Here's the cousins showing their best side:

A slightly more serious side:

The 11 year old attempted to amuse the masses with some jokes while we awaited the unveiling of the dessert table:

And then it began...the mad rush for seating and first cuts of the many pies offered. My sister's infamous "cloveless pumpkin pie", the subject of many jokes on Facebook today, can be seen next to my stunning display of Butterscotch pies:

Here's the official pie score chart:

Homemade Pumpkin Pie (cloveless) - B

Store bought Apple Pie - Did anyone have any of this pie?? I guess a C

Store bought MinceMeat Pie - as this pie disgusts me, I did not try any - F (as always)

Awesome homemade Butterscotch Pies - A plus

Since I know you want to see them again, here is a closeup of the awesome Butterscotch pies I made:

(I will admit, I had no part in making the meringue tops -store bought, of course)

SOME PEOPLE copped an attitude about the whole holiday. I won't say who:

The dessert table was filled with kids and their thrilling conversation about body parts, bodily functions, and how many of these parts they could make function unnecessarily. So I turned the camera on more innocent (for the moment) kids:

This one decided to amuse us with her most wonderful new skill. The old standby Peek a Boo!

Surprise! She is still here after all!

SOME KIDS couldn't handle too much more dessert. I won't say who:

Cute photo ahead:

While the suckers...I mean others...were cleaning up the table and kitchen again, I watched the two youngest nieces. How cute is this?

(no babies were harmed in the process of getting this photo)

This is the same expression the same nephew gave me last year for my blog:

When I managed to escape...I mean wander out casually...I headed home to my SLIGHTLY decorated home. Here's my grandmothers 7 foot 1950's Tinsel Tree:

I also bought this 10 dollar star for the front garden:

and lastly, I set up the winter scene on the bookshelf for the kids to enjoy. YES, it's for the kids. I swear.

SOME were unimpressed with my efforts. I won't say who:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL! Now get cracking on that shopping...some stores are opening as early as 3:00am tomorrow. I won't say who (Old Navy)....