Thank goodness that's over !

I've been out of it for a while. After my trip to Washington I came home, celebrated the holidays, packed up and moved!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Very quiet. It was just different. Very different. We are used to a huge Thanksgiving celebration with family and close friends. Usually 50-60 of us gather together, eat, play games, just spend time together, eat and maybe eat again. This year Mom had surgery and since no one else wanted to take over the task of hosting we decided to do nothing. At the last minute Darin and I decided to fix a Thanksgiving dinner and go it alone. We were intending to take Mom and Dad a plate but they decided to drive to our house and eat. Tabitha was in Texas visiting Collin and Randy ate with Ashley's family so it was just us. Very quiet, and very different. I'm probably more thankful for my family this year, and certainly realize how blessed I am.

Our Christmas was very different this year also. Darin came down with a fever and stomach flu right before Christmas so we spent a very quiet and different Christmas Eve at home.
Christmas morning we had our traditional biscuits and gravy breakfast and opened presents with the kids. Collin was in town for the holidays so we were lucky enough to have them on Christmas morning and then back again Christmas night for Turkey dinner. Darin and I did a Thanksgiving dinner for Tabitha,Collin and Randy since we all couldn't be together in November. We played a game, watched movies and just relaxed. It was a great Christmas, but I am looking forward to traditions returning next year.

Then it was packing, tossing, packing, tossing and packing some more. On January 1 we moved. I thought I was a pretty good house keeper. I thought I was pretty good at not being a pack rat. And I also thought moving wasn't that big of a deal if you were neat and organized. HA! Boy was I wrong! We were amazed at the junk we accumulated in 17 years. I was mortified at how filthy my house actually was. And moving is a very big deal no matter what, and should only be done by the young. We will be renting for a while and on one hand I never want to move again while on another I think it may be necessary to remove everything from the house once a year. That way you know what's under it, behind it, and if it needs to be tossed. We are all moved to the new place now.......just how long it takes to get moved in is another question.