Bring on December!

We're still eating turkey leftovers but the brown and orange has left the building! Bring out the red and green! Spent all day yesterday and most of this morning getting the house all decked out. Just like my pal Dawn, I wanted to share my fireplace!

Unlike Dawn's photo though, there is no roaring fire in the fireplace. It's about 75 in San Diego today, so for right now the pine cones will stay in the fireplace in place of a flaming fire!

Check out some of the other decorations that are up here in Larsen Land:

This is the chest just to the left of the fireplace.

The dining room. Oh and please note - the Advent calendar is up well in advance of December 1st. That doesn't always happen around here!

The shelves above the couch in the family room.

The book case just outside of the kitchen! The guys are not happy that I have cute little Christmas baskets for them to put their keys in. I told them what my friend Johnna always tells her good pal Karen - BITE ME! :)

The Norwegian Christmas plates all snug on the new plate shelf!
Check out this new display I made with the antique camera I just bought last weekend and all of my Christmas mini albums!

And of course,my favorite THE VILLAGE!

Tomorrow the outside lights and the tree!

Thankful for Disaster Being Averted

This is by no means my first Thanksgiving to be in charge of turkey and all the trimmings. About 11:30 this morning though I was starting to get a little worried. Always in the past I have turned my oven on to 500° and then as soon as I put the turkey in turn it down to 300° for the rest of the cooking time. This gives the turkey a chance to get brown. Well 2008 was a different story. I put the turkey in and lo and behold it wasn’t until almost 25 minutes later that I remembered to turn down the temperature. The turkey was black and I was in tears. Laura said it was time to go buy a new turkey and Andrew tried his best to put a good face on a very bad situation. Thankfully Mark had gone to visit his cousins and wasn’t around. I was really dreading him coming home.
I spent the rest of the afternoon dreading dinner time and wondering how I would salvage this 20 lb. nightmare.
So here comes the turkey out of the oven:

and the sweet potatoes are cooking:

+ and Mark is reluctantly carving the bird:

Notice how I've had him carve the bird in the kitchen instead of my usual Norman Rockwell style at the table in front of everyone.

And then just like Festivius - it was a THANKSGIVING MIRACLE!

Laura snuck in behind her dad and grabbed a piece of the breast meat and it was juicy and tasty according to her. Yea hurray now let's eat:

Now here's the happy crew enjoying their dinner:



Now we're all cleaned up:

And it's one of my favorite Larsen family traditions - a full tummy and watching

Look who is happy now!

Happy Thanksgiving One and ALL!

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Are You Excited? I'm Excited!

OK so even though it is the day before Thanksgiving and I’m giving serious thought to all that I have to be thankful for, I must tell you how excited I am that my time with Shimelle and her Journal Your Christmas experience is about to begin. I spent every day of the class last year with her and I must say it really gave me a new appreciation for what the holidays mean to me. Yes, I did a page everyday and at times, it was kind of rushed, but the experience was so remarkable that I find myself looking forward to this year and all the holiday hub-bub.

Back to Thanksgiving though, I managed to get the bird (all 20 lbs. of him) into the brine this morning plus get the pumpkin and chocolate caramel walnut pies made. Need to work on dressing and rolls after work (thankfully only a half day today). Still not sure on the number for dinner tomorrow.

Bright and early come Friday it will be “Red & Green Friday” at the Larsens rather than Black Friday. No shopping for me this year – just lots of decorating and getting into the spirit of the holidays.

For those of you that really want to jump into the spirit – join me with Shimelle http://www.shimelle.com/classes/389/journal-your-christmas and discover the magic of journaling your Christmas!

Change Has Come!

It’s a new day. The sun is shining and America is at the dawn of what I hope will be a new Golden Age. I’m hopeful that we can leave behind the divisions that have run so deep for the last 16 years and move beyond partisan politics. I am hungry for change and a new attitude. I want so much for us to come together as Americans and do what is best for the planet, our security, the environment and the generations to come. I am ready to get to work to help do what I can to bring about the change that we all desperately want and need.

I Owe It To Him

This young 21 year old college man left his family, plans for the future and everything he held dear to him to fight for freedom and to preserve the right for everyone to vote. I will not let him down. No matter who you support or what causes you champion, please exercise the right that so many Americans have sacrificed for you - GO VOTE!