Yep...It's Black Friday Alright

 As I was spending my Black Friday in my bright orange room, trying to finish up some crafting, I decided it really was a black Friday for me even though my feet hadn't even hit the shopping pavement. After two full days of shopping, cooking, cleaning, decorating, cleaning, eating and cleaning again, I could hardly bear the thought of waking up to the mess I still had to face this morning. There is just no getting around the fact that Thanksgiving is all about work.

Here is what my house looked like this morning (Oh, it still looks like this. I have been hiding in my office/craft room all day):



This is a small amount of dishes left after the dishwasher was run three times.



My living room, which was turned into the dining room for dinner, covered with paper, glue, and scissors from an after dinner project.

Here is just a small portion of what I pulled out of my makeshift, front porch refrigerator to serve up for dinner. Oh...just a few leftovers after 9 people ate. What was I thinking when I fixed all of this? I have issues with making sure we have enough food. We could have fed the proverbial army.

 Not to be Debbie Downer at the beginning of the holiday season, but I just can't do it anymore. I decided that doing all this work, fixing all this food, cleaning all these dishes for a 10 minute feast that ends with too many leftovers to squeeze into my refrigerator, is just all highly overrated. I woke up this Black Friday and decided it will be different next year.

So...I have jotted myself a few notes in my little Thanksgiving folder that I have tucked things in for several years.

 It is currently filled with menus from past years and lots of recipes. But now it will have one little extra piece of paper that will say.....

Menu 2011
Turkey Sandwiches, 7 layer salad, chips and dip, pumpkin pie.

That's my plan and I'm stickin to it. No more stressed out, beat to death, overspent Thanksgiving dinners. I want to be thankful on Thanksgiving, not thankful it is all over. My menu will be simple and have everything my family loves - the day after Thanksgiving treat will be served on Thanksgiving Day. I can roast my turkey a few days ahead, make one salad and couple of pies, mix up some dip and buy some fresh bread. I have a feeling it will all work out for the better.

Because when Mama is happy....everyone is happy.

Love you all!
Robin

*UPDATE*

Giving Thanks for this Happy Saturday!

Much better. Glad Black Friday is over.