The Happiness Report No. 19

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Good morning friends! How was your weekend? Mine was GREAT! The weather was beautiful and although I hit the ground running every morning at 6:30 I still found a lot of time to relax. 

The Christmas music is on in the cars and in the house and we are “rocking around the Christmas trees” all day long. I am almost finished decorating for Christmas, as I mentioned before we have several small trees including one the bedroom. 

Tabletop Flocked Tree from Target

I love waking up to the glow of a Christmas tree,  I have it set on a timer so that at 6:30 it illuminates my side of the room and gets my butt out of bed for yoga. It make me so happy to dig around in my Christmas boxes and rediscover ornaments, the stockings my mom made for us, all of my Christmas tins which will soon be filled with cookies, candies, nuts and more. 

I wrapped a lot of gifts this weekend and I am so close to being finished, all that is left is the baked treats and that is what I will be doing Thanksgiving weekend. On “cyber” Monday I will be first in line at Fed-ex with a truck load of packages. I will be making all of my family favorites, caramel corn(this is our favorite recipe), marshmallows, homemade hot chocolate mix, apricot rugelach and cinnamon candies  almonds, and minced pies for my dad,  to name just a few things. 

I already made 12 jars of Cranberry Apple Chutney to eat not only on our turkey sandwiches but to give in my baskets. If you have never made chutney you have to try this recipe, it is so good. 

My grandsons’ like football, soccer, and camping so I will not be buying this doll house from Target but I wonder what my husband would say if I brought one home? I think this is the cutest doll house I’ve ever seen and I’ve never even liked them before. It reminds me of Mary Poppins for some reason. Can you imagine how much fun some little kids are going to have on Christmas morning when they open this? 

I haven’t been too excited about Thanksgiving because we typically travel and are not doing that this year but my husband is so excited to be home and making all of his favorite dishes that his excitement is rubbing off on me. I am a little worried that we will be eating leftovers until Christmas he has so many dishes on his list. I am in charge of the pie(s), the yeast rolls and the mashed potatoes, the oyster stuffing and the cranberry pecan stuffing, the turkey, cauliflower gratin and the rest if up to my husband. Yes, there will only be two of us but we decided that we are going to celebrate as we would if we were with family and are making smaller portions of lots of stuff. Wish us luck. 

I am thankful and grateful this holiday season that we are together, that our families are healthy and that we have a roof over our heads and jobs. We are blessed beyond measure. 

 Please, if you can donate whatever you can to your nearest food bank or shelter, there are many people who need help this holiday season. 

Have a wonderful day friends, if you will be on the road or in the air traveling please wear your masks and be safe.