mason garden

Since all the friends have posted wish lists and currently bored I’ve posted our wish lists that may or may not be up to date:

James

http://del.icio.us/masonjm/wishlist

Cheryl

http://del.icio.us/masoncj/wishlist

As I mentioned in the chat section, our Thanksgiving was a mix of half good half bad. The week started off about half a week early with grocery shopping on the 15th before the crowds took over and the food was picked clean. This turned out to be a very good strategy as it took a last minute trip for fresh food 45 minutes to do a 15 minute run at Raleys. This year James and I decided to host the usual Thanksgiving meal with James mom’s family at our place. Our new appliances finally got a good workout and our home is finally clean and in order or at least it was until I drug all the Christmas boxes into our dinning area. Thanksgiving day started early for a day off. We cleaned furiously for hours and then showered and started on the food prep about 2pm. A little after 3pm everyone showed up and were greeted by our female kitties who are very social. Then they did the tour including the red race car washer and dryer. Meanwhile, James, Don, and I worked on the food. It took a lot longer to prepare than I anticipated so we finally had all food hot and ready at 5pm.  Once we were all stuffed  the chatting commenced and Paul and Kacey moved to the living room to play games on the Wii. Overall we really enjoyed ourselves. The food was wonderful and in excess, the desert was wonderful and also too much, and the conversation stimulated memories from the past. We finally headed to bed at 11pm and noticed a line forming in front of Target across the street.

On to day two. The day started at 8am to the sound of crazy shoppers at Target. What kind of deal could Target have that would be worth those crowds! The days plan was to have the Driver family over to see our new place. Once invited there was waffling over allergies to cats and the problem of how many people could fit in our small place. Eventually, the decision was to make a short visit and then have dinner at a restaurant. So…James and I cleaned furiously again almost returning it to the previous days clean glory. The whole family, minus Richard & Vicki who had to go home, trooped into our small living room and stood around wondering what to do. My cousin Diana’s six week old baby girl was nestled in my arms and the tour started. I’m actually very surprised at how heavy a baby can become after 30 minutes. Elizabeth was so good the whole time, only fussing a little when she wanted bouncing and when she was hungry. Someday I hope to have a sweet baby. Since I doubt it will be anything but sweet I plan to wait a few more years for one of these bundles of joy to join the family. Thirty minutes was plenty time to stand around so we headed over to the Spaghetti Factory where we waited 45 minutes for a table to fit 12. I’m amazed that people do this kind of thing! To end the night we headed to my parents much larger house to enjoy conversation and look at wedding and baby pictures. The day turned out much better than I expected.

Saturday I was about fed up with the holiday. Usually I have at least one day to sleep in over the weekend but since it’s Thanksgiving week James and I woke early to prepare more potatoes and ready ourselves for the 3rd annual Thanksgiving meal at James dad’s home in South Sacramento. Needless to say I was grouchy and not looking forward to the day. The only rescue was playing with the 1 year old boy who was brought by his grandparents, friends of James dad. By 7pm I was ready to escape the madness so we said our goodbyes and headed home. Thank goodness.

Sunday continued the crazy holiday with a visit from Steve & Patti to take the tour and then breakfast at the Pancake House. I had my usual, a waffle with fresh strawberries and whip cream and coffee and James had his usual 49er Flap Jacks,  a scrambled egg and cranberry juice. Breakfast went well and we said our goodbyes. The rest of the day consisted of shear madness. We headed to the stores for birthday and Christmas shopping. We even visited the mall! gasp! Sunday actually didn’t look too bad. I’m thinking the crowds battled it out on Friday.

Now on to my favorite “season” Christmas

It’s funny how at this time of year home life is so busy and work life is so slow. Most of the world is rushing to get year end projects done but the assistant waits for the beginning of the year when sorting and recycling of last years excesses becomes imperative and planning for the new year starts. Regular meetings are scheduled for the year at a frantic pace competing with all the other assistants who are booking their people at ever frightening speed. The year is fresh and new, like spring, it holds new excitement and stresses. But now we wait and wish we could be at home decorating the Christmas tree or purchasing mountains of presents that will sit in the corner all year collecting dust. We, the assistants, are expected to enjoy the season with decorations going up in the office but secretly we feel obligated to appear cheery and participate in consuming the gift baskets that arrive with chocolates and nuts, cookies and dried fruit. Curse the snacks that will stick to our thighs! They do taste good. Oh to have activities to consume the dull hours. The trees outside the window with their fall colors have tempted us for months and we can stand it no more! We must escape into the world that has so much potential by planning large family gatherings that we will remember fondly and regret all at the same time.

Check this out if you’re interested in finding local farming in your area:

Community Supported Agriculture (And Other Farm Subscriptions)

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

And this kid is from Sacramento, too.

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