Thanksgiving

Those of you who know it was Thanksgiving on Thursday, and therefore Black Friday the next day, have probably been expecting a tale of plenty of eating followed by plenty of shopping.  Well, I'm here to tell you that this year Thanksgiving was just the opposite!  

Okay, not totally opposite - I ate a lot of food, and hats off to Julie and Ellen for an amazing dinner followed by dessert at Christina's, then more dessert and Polar Express at Mrs. T.'s!

But as for the shopping - that part was 180 degrees from last year! I did not shop at all on Friday.  I did take Scott's glasses to be repaired after Toby removed both lenses, but that was free!!

We also visited Melissa and Keith, who welcomed baby Leighton Kruze last Thursday.

But it doesn't stop there!!  Not content with not spending money, we also decided to make some money!  After week 3 of Financial Peace University, where Dave Ramsey says to sell whatever you can to pay off debt, we decided to hold a yard sale.  But we thought it would be much more fun to join others and invited the whole FPU group to come sell with us!  8 families did...

We made some money, and also cleared out the basement so we can start to make a play space for the kids.  There were some big things that didn't sell, which I'm told will go quickly online, so I'll be on that this week.  Scott sold his old Maxima!!  It was a little unexpected, but we recently got him a Chevy Tahoe, old but in good condition, so we planned to sell the Maxima anyway!

I also made a huge decision, to part with the baby clothes I had kept.  I only kept the really nice stuff, most of it barely used. I gave Toby's clothes (and my post-partum clothes!) to Melissa and went through the three huge space bags of Emma's to sell.   

Of course, going through it brought back many memories.  I could tell you when she wore almost every item, and likely have a picture of them all too!

Needless to say, I kept a few things, for Emma to see when she's older, and maybe even have for her kids.  Ever the fashionista, she wanted to try and wear most of it, but even she had to admit it was too small.

 The dress was huge on her even then!!

It was so cold at the yard sale on Saturday, barely 40f and windy!  People came, but nowhere near the numbers we hoped.  Still, we acted on our new focus of becoming debt free and had a lot of fun and camaraderie doing it.  The clothes will go on consignment, so someone else can sell it!

This year I am very thankful for family.  I can't believe I've been back at work for 18 months now, and it would be inconceivable if it weren't for the love and help of Scott's parents.  It's also that time of year when I think about Christmas past, and start wishing we could be with my family for the holidays.  Unfortunately, now that the little monkeys are both over 2, the price is extortionate, so at best we are hoping to make it over for Christmas 2013.

Whether near or far, I'm thankful for the family we have, and one day, maybe I'll know how to express it!