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Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Writing

Thanksgiving went pretty well. We went to my mom's house this year. It was quite the gathering. There were 9 adults and 9 children. We had three tables spread throughout the house--the dining room table for the adults, a folding table for the teens, and a picnic table for the little ones. Mom made the turkey and most of the sidedishes and desserts. I brought toss salad and cherry cobbler. and my sister brought the corn.

Mom didn't seem her usual self but I think that might have a lot to do with the stress of raising teenagers. I've heard some pretty interesting (as in disturbing) stories about what she's going through with the oldest girl right now. None of these have been confirmed by my mom but I imagine in time I'll hear all about it. There really wasn't any privacy on Thanksgiving day so we could chat.

I should take my mom out to dinner sometime soon. Just to give her break from the kids.

I would have invited her to go shopping with us on Black Friday but she was babysitting so one of her neighbors could go shopping instead. So it ended up being just me and my sister-in-law Ronnie on Black Friday.

Our first stop was Circuit City. Don't. Ever. Go. There. On. Black. Friday. Never ever in a million years will make that mistake again. It was horrid. Finding the items was easy enough but standing in the checkout line for an hour and a half was beyond ridiculous. Worse was the fact that my poor SIL stood in line that long just learn at the register that the item she had been told to ask the clerk for had been sold out. She stood in line for that long only to end up buying a pack of gum. Seriously.

The rest of the shopping went fairly well. I got most of my holiday purchases taken care of in a few short hours. My children are all but done. I think I have a couple of minor little gifts I need to pick up for those parties where you have to bring a gift for your own kids, but that's it.

I still need to buy a couple of gift certificates for people, though, so I'm not done spending money yet. Much to the hubby's annoyance. He hates this time of the year.

As a final note, I have been working on the Christmas Project. I'm up to 10,000 words! Only 115,000 more to go!

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