That was a Thanksgiving for the record books! We had a total of six guests; some were last minute, some were last last minute, but we managed to accommodate everyone. It was interesting times!

The menu included the usual stuff and some new dishes: Roast turkey, *honey baked ham, dressing, smashed potatoes, smashed butternut squash, braised & creamed Brussels sprouts, sweet peas with pearl onions, cranberry sauce w/ orange zest, yeast rolls & bourbon sweet potato pie with homemade whipped topping.

*a gift from ATM's father & stepmother

This is the adult table; KMHD & Zach had to sit at the kid's table. Hee.


So you can Christmas now, o.k.? I'm joining the fight against Christmas Creep. Let us Thanksgiving first! In fact, let us load the dishwasher before we get started! Mayumi & SOLO helped me put up the tree.:


I can't recall the rest of Thanksgiving day; it's all a blur now. We did do our traditional late night run to Waffle House. We have to do this because there is no way I'm cooking again and no one wants leftovers just yet, amirite?

The next day, desperate to be out of the house but wanting to avoid Black Friday madness, KMHD & I drove Mayumi to Hot Springs to treat her to birthday goodness. We window shopped (Hello, Minnetonka moccasins!) & had a late lunch @ Rolando's. Then we went to Garvan Woodland Gardens. I'm a fan! We are so getting a Japanese maple for our house one day:




KMHD/Mayumi:

My total high school shoe self-portrait:

What's this?

Oh!



A new holiday tradition! It felt good to be outside, walking around, loving Arkansas. Maybe we can try a state park next time.

I was completely spent Friday night. I went to bed at 9 p.m.

On Saturday, we spent the entire day 1. reclaiming the house and 2. making egg roll for the Peek baby shower. Totally time consuming. And the egg rolls weren't as great as the first batch, which made me fear that I was bringing the dish of shame.

Speaking of the shower, it was the best baby shower I've been to. It was like a normal party, save the pile of presents in the corner. There were no embarrassing games and we didn't have to sit through gift opening! I got to see all kinds of folk, including those who live a half-world away. It was pretty much awesome. My favorite part was when some of us snuck off to Zach's shed to listen to his 8 track player. Party within a party. Heather did a lovely job as hostess with the mostess. And since we are neighbors, we got to walk home! We need more people to move up to Park Hill. So we can walk home from your party.

I took a ton of photos and this is the best I could do? I guess I didn't have my camera eye on. Watching the game:



Before stumbling off to bed, ATM had the idea of going back to Garvan Gardens the next day, so he can get his cover shot for the magazine. I couldn't say no. Too, we were going while the holiday lights were on. Even with the rain, it was lovely.

Those beautiful maples again:


Koi:

This is actually a little creepy:


Before heading to the garden, we stopped by the flea market & the Arlington for a drink in the lobby.




It was a good way to wrap up the holiday weekend, but you could still feel the Sunday weighing us down. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks of normalcy until we get to Round II.

I don't want discuss what this did to the self-improvement plan. Back in the saddle, back in the saddle.


Someone please edit this post.