brought to you by the great pumpkin shortage of 2009. or, in other words, happy thanksgiving!

happy turkey day, y'all.

i'm pleased to report that our first thanksgiving as a married couple was uneventful and full of pie.  because of work schedules, we were only able to spend about a day with family before we headed back to collegetown.  it was lots of driving, but worth it. we made pie (well, i played assistant to musicboy's butternut squash pie masterpiece, which might sound nasty but is AMAZING and is the only 'pumpkin' pie that i actually like). we hung out with musicboy's family. we ate food and we played games.  we drew names for christmas. we were pushed to come up with what we wanted for christmas (and we couldn't think of ANYTHING. weddings are like christmas and birthday and every gifting holiday on CRACK. i would be pleased, i think, if i got nothing but silly stocking stuffers from everyone.).  we drove home.  all in all, it was a good milestone.

here's a snippet of my thoughts on such a momentous occasion:

1) i miss my grandma's mashed potatoes.  they kick every other mashed potato's butt. they also clog arteries but seriously.

2) i think holidays and traditions make it even more clear how very different families are. i get along with musicboy's family very well. i don't know them incredibly well yet, with perhaps the exception of his immediate family, but i have always felt like we were very similar.  his family jokes a lot, like mine, and they are very close, like mine.  but i am beginning to see even more clearly how different they are. that's expected and not at all a bad thing...just a little bit unexpected. 

3) i think it's both enormously cool and daunting that musicboy and i get to CHOOSE how we want to handle holidays, what traditions we want to continue, and what approach we want to take toward things like Christmas and gift-giving.  we got to talk about it as we drove home last night, and one of the things that i love most about our relationship is how similar we are in our thinking about things like this. 

i like that we're thinking about it. i like that we are focusing on the things that are important--what we want to focus on, what we want to teach whatever little ones we have, what we want the season to really be about--and it's teaching me what parenting must be about.  you have to think ahead. you have to make decisions ahead.  and you DON'T have to do what your family did. there's this miraculous ability to pick and choose the best and infuse it with your own sense of individuality, with who you are as a couple. i think there's awesome power in that, but only if we take advantage of it. 

i hope we really take advantage of it. 

4) i miss baking.  i bake all of the time, but i miss baking with a purpose.  no pie making for me this year. i'm tempted to make an apple pie anyway, but considering the fact that i've eaten more pie in the last 36 hours than anyone should legally be permitted, i'm going to stifle that urge.

5) oh college football. we're entering the VERY.SERIOUS. portion of the season, and i'm excited.  musicboy and i will be in collegetown stadium this weekend, on a beautifully crisp fall day, for the last home game.  i'm excited.  next week is a VERY.IMPORTANT.AND.NAILBITINGLY.YIKES.WHAT.WILL.HAPPEN. game as well, and then it will be well and truly into bowl season. 

ah. i can't talk about it anymore. one week at a time.

i don't think i've been this excited about christmas decorating and festivities and everything as i am this year.  we're getting our tree on monday.  i think we're getting a live tree, i think, even though it will cost us lots and we will have to buy all of the assorted accessories (i.e. tree stand, etc.), because we will be here in collegetown until VERY shortly before the holiday and i don't want to spend my whole december feeling all BOO SCROOGEy because my house isn't decked out.  also, see above riff on creating traditions. 

i really should go and do the piles of laundry that have, well, piled up since i fell victim to the death mucus scourge of 2009, but the iron bowl is on and i really really really want to watch it.  bah.  what should i do?

(i'll probably wait to see how it goes...and if it's pretty ugly, i'll go wash clothes. if not, i might just have to do them later.  maybe i'll grade now and so i'll feel less lazy?  hmm.)