But the Great Pumpkin was Just Here, I Swear

Oh, Christmas tree . . .

So I think I am going to dig out the original 1950's fake Christmas tree from the basement and put it up tonight. Lights, ornaments, all in the picture window . . . the whole shebang. I also have Christmas (excuse me, "holiday" as not all of my planned recipients are Christian) cards that I may, in fact, get around to sending this year, but only because they are either mildly smutty or mean. Those of you on the list will have to comment about if that is really true.

Thanksgiving update: The turkey was awesome, thanks to my brother D. and Alton Brown. We had way too much food. I got to the end of "James and the Giant Peach", although Z. had wandered off by that point . . . I had forgotten that the peach ends up in NYC. My mother, sister and I spent just enough time together to get sick of each other. My father's German friends kept him very busy and gave me a reason to go to the mall on Black Friday because I certainly don't need any more stuff but there is no Abercrombie and Fitch in Germany.
Speaking of Black Friday and A&F, while we were in the store getting shirts for Mr. R's son, the music was so loud that even the saleperson had to shout "WHAT?!?" when my sister asked for another size in the color we were sent to get. Such a ridiculous store, but not as ridiculous as Ruehl, another store owned by A&F. Ruehl's marketing strategy includes: keeping the store as dark as possible, paying teenagers to "hang" outside the store, having no sign whatsoever so you have to guess if it's even a store or just a place were teenagers lean, and having no employees inside the store . . . so if you actually find something under $100 that you might want to purchase (after taking it to a light between two giant fake plants to actually see the product) you can't buy it. Totally way cool.

So things to be Thankful for: my family, all my friends, my nose still being on my face, my somewhat challenging (and somewhat annoying at times) employment, making enough money to have expensive soap and a Starbucks addiction, and being old enough that I don't HAVE to shop at any Abercrombie stores (Hollister, Ruehl, etc.) due to extreme peer pressure.

The above mentioned expensive soap, which I purchase at Bath and Body Works . . . this time I tried a new scent, "Fresh Vanilla", and have discovered that it reminds me of the smell of Play-doh. So I'm walking around smelling like Play-doh. Hopefully someone finds that to be sexy . . . but somehow I don't think so . . .