Seven Quick Takes Vol. 6

~1~

We are going to my mom and dad-in-laws for Thanksgiving. They live about an hour away on the farm where my husband grew up. Then we are going to go to my aunt on my mom's side. She also lives on a farm in the same are. I am going to make whole cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole to bring. We've been making cranberry sauce for the holidays for a while. I remember going to my aunt and uncle on my Dad's side and having home made cranberry sauce and just thinking that it was the homiest thing ever. I love cranberry sauce.

Sweet potato casserole was something we just discovered last year. I was looking up recipes for sweet potatoes for Christmas Dinner and happened to run across the recipe that is linked above. I had never heard of sweet potato casserole before. Both of these things are something that no one else makes in our families so we are always proud to bring something that is our very own.

~2~

There is always the temptation to be a little anxious about Christmas or more specifically about preparing for Christmas. I always want to make sure to use my time well and make the most of it for preparing for Christmas spiritually and materially. In theory, I think it is important to do a little each day and keep things simple. For example, I think it would be fun to do crafty things with the kids in preparing for Christmas. When I think of all the options there are for this I get overwhelmed, but if I just make a decision to do a particular thing and do it then I feel good because we accomplish something and create good memories. So, for me, I guess it's important not to get hung up on trying to make the right decision and just make a decision.

~3~

We need a new vacum cleaner. I'm thinking off a Eureka Boss. I did some research on line and it looked like this one may be the best for the money. I'm excited about getting a new vacum cleaner as the one we have now is about 15 years old and has lost a lot of its suction capacity. I love the rattling sound of dirt being sucked form the carpet into the vacum cleaner. It's very gratifiying to clean entry ways where this is particularly noticeable.

~4~

Hmmm ...let me think of Thanksgivings of childhood. In the morning we would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Santa Claus was always at the very end. I remember that my Grandpa bought us a color t.v. especially so we could watch the parades in color. (That makes me sound old.) I also remember watching this at Grandma's house some years but when we got older we would go to my grandma and grandpa's house in the afternoon. There was one Thanksgiving when there was a lot of snow and we brought our sled. I ended up getting a bloody lip from falling off the sled I think.

~5~

I'm not going to read anyone elses's seven takes before I do mine. I think it makes it easier to think of things that way without being influenced by someone else's style or content. If I read some really good quick takes (and I usually do) it tends to make me feel self-conscioius about what I am writing and things don't flow as well. Does that make sense? I'm sure there are other seven quick takers out there that feel the same way.

~6~

My husband is taking next week off from work. This means a vacation for me as much as it does for him. I will try to get some ideas in mind of what I would like to get done around the house (Christmas and homeschool planning?), and of course some ideas for doing some recreational things as a family too (don't want to be all work and no play).

~7~

I am always encouraged by all the good people who blog out there. I can't get over the fact of how cool it is that blogging allows regular people to express their ideas in a somewhat public way. It is amazing how many talented people are out there who we would never know about if it weren't for blogging.

That does it for this week. Happy Thanksgiving and for more quick takes click on the logo above.