Nonsensical Holiday Weekend Blatherings

Source: reimaginedonline.com via Kara on Pinterest

{Isn't that the coolest tree? I've seen several different versions of a book Christmas tree around Facebook and Pinterest and other blogs and I would dearly love to try it one day myself. Why not this year you ask? Because I don't have anywhere I could put it. And I certainly don't want it in the middle of my floor where I have to walk around it all the time. So I'll just enjoy everyone's pictures of what they came up with.}

Goodbye Thanksgiving! And Merry Christmas! I was finishing up my evening tonight and had a sudden thought. "I haven't blathered on to all my two many blog readers for a while. I think I'm due! I know they all have been waiting with bated breath to read more of my nonsensical and lengthy thought processes. And I know they are just dying to find out how my four day weekend has been going." And you have, right?........right? Ah well, this is my blog and I can do what I want. So there! (But it would be great if somebody actually reads this. Pretty please?)

Anyway, I had an awesome Thanksgiving! I hope y'all did too. Since I don't live close to my immediate family, I got invited to some friends. Actually I got about four different invitations this year. I took the easy way out in deciding where to go and went with the first invite I got. But it ended early and I wasn't ready to just crash at home, so I invited myself over to the third place that had invited me originally. (I know, I know, it's bad manners to invite yourself. But they invited me first! So it's okay! That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

All in all, it was a very awesome day. I gorged on turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie and played a few rounds of Colorku and Dominion. Incidentally, I'm not really a game player. What I mean is, sometimes I'm in the mood for a game and sometimes not. Sometimes I'd just much rather watch. (I'm a great cheerleader on the sidelines! :) But I did enjoy these. Now Dominion is one of those strategy type games that only smart people can play and win. I am not a strategist. At all. (I mean, I lose at Solitaire. All the time!) So I went into it pretty much planning that I'd totally lose, but there weren't many people to play and I figured 'hey, it might be fun'. It was fun actually. I didn't win, but surprisingly didn't do half bad either. (Probably just beginners luck.) But the one I really enjoyed was Colorku! If you haven't heard of it, it's just like Sodoku but with colors. And it's set up on a big board. So you can have several players all working together to figure it out. Now that's much more my style. Everyone working together instead of everyone out for themselves. (Mostly because I'm horrible at strategy and competitive games. Seriously. Horrible and awful and terrible and you get the picture.) This game I could actually figure out and help find the spots where the orange went or the yellow, and I picked the right spots too! It was fun. (I mentioned it to mom and dad and maybe I'll get it for Christmas. I'm always willing to add a game to my collection when I play and actually enjoy myself.) So a fabulous day it was indeed.

(This is what Colorku looks like.)

Friday I did not go shopping. More power to all those who did. I hope you got lots of great deals and enjoyed yourselves. I very much enjoyed sleeping in and being lazy. I did go out but it was to help some friends with a project at their office, and then I was home again to work on my Christmas cards/poem. Which I finished! And now they're all mailed out! Woohoo!!!! :)

I did do some shopping on Saturday, but I didn't leave the house until 11 and only went to one department store. Didn't go anywhere near the mall. Ugh. Have you figured out yet that I don't much like crowds? About the only shopping where crowds don't bother me is in a bookstore. And that's because I usually am reading the first chapter or two or three (or you know, the whole book, I tend to spend hours in bookstores), and am engrossed enough that I don't notice the crowds. Lucky for me I don't usually have many gifts to get, so I don't have to brave the crowds that often during the Christmas season.

But I love the Christmas season in general! Minus the crazy shoppers, I love the Christmas music and the whole feeling of the season. It just makes me happy. :)

Source: Uploaded by user via Kara on Pinterest

Thinking about Christmas, I have to admit to you that I volunteered to do something either really brave or really stupid this year. I'm quite worried about it actually. I'm helping out at a Christmas pageant of sorts. I have to memorize lines and everything. And yes, that memorization is what's got me worried. I'm not certain I can remember them all. And I've only got a few days left before the first night! I don't like speaking in front of people, and have no idea why on earth I agreed to do it. But my 'yes' was spur of the moment and I'm one of those people who have a hard time saying 'no'. My original thought was that I'm not overly busy this year, and what a great way to kick off the season. Now I'm incredibly nervous and just really hoping that once the first night is over, I'll feel a lot better about the rest of the nights. I have another rehearsal this Sunday evening and then Thursday is the beginning. So wish me luck, pray for me, think about me, make a Christmas wish for me. I could use all the help I can get! Thanks guys! :)  

On a happy note, I did spend some time with a very dear friend this afternoon. She lives out of state and her and her husband just adopted a baby girl this summer. I hadn't met the newest little addition yet, so I had a wonderful afternoon of cuddles and smiles and giggles. Babies are so fun. Plus it was awesome to chat and catch up again. This would be a sad world without friends. A very, very sad world. :)

Somehow in all the craziness of eating and game-playing and card mailing and shopping and baby-cuddling, I didn't get a lot of reading done this weekend. Maybe that will change Sunday. Here's hoping. I'm also hoping that y'all have had an awesome weekend yourself. And that your Christmas season is off to a good start!

If you're still reading, thanks for hanging with me! You definitely deserve some cookies. Happy reading this week. :)

Toodle-loo kangaroos!