November in a Nutshell

You know I suck, so I don't even have to draw attention to the fact, but I did anyway.

Here's the rest of November in a nutshell.  Well, maybe not exactly a nutshell as that implies something small and simple, and this post is destined to be my usual rambling drivel, covering seventy-five different things in a single paragraph, and qualifying me for a worst-blogger nomination.  Oh well, it is what it is.

Attitude on wheels...

So, when we left off weeks ago, I was curled up on the living room floor in anticipation of another round of Punky's projectile vomiting.  I'm happy to say it never happened, and we made the drive down state the next afternoon with no sudden eruptions from either end in the car.  My nephew's birthday party was a blast, and this experience on roller skates was much better than our first attempt a year and a half ago.  Punky was able to get around okay using the kiddie skates, and I was able to actually skate without my body feeling like I was in a car wreck the next morning.  I found out there is a tiny roller rink not far from us and we plan to spend some time there this winter when there's nothing to do but watch the snow fall.

The following weekend, Punky and I spent hours sorting through all her toys as we've done every November thus far.  There just isn't enough room to keep everything, and saving things she hardly plays with is a complete waste of space.  We managed to weed out most of the remaining baby toys quite easily, and then we turned our attention to the massive collection of stuffed animals taking over our house.

Punky calls them her "guys" and, quite honestly, she does play with each and every one of them.  But some much more than others, and those others needed to go.  I started by offering her two at a time and asking her to pick which one she would like to keep.  I tried to make it easy on her by pairing one of her favorites with one that resides at the bottom of her toy box most of the time.  Using this method we successfully lowered her stuffed animal count by almost half, and that made for a very happy mommy.  Mostly.  I lost it a bit when Punky insisted that we both kiss each one goodbye as we stuffed them in a bag to donate.  As she told every dust magnet how much she loves him, and how much she'll miss him, and how much she hopes he finds a new home, my eyes filled with tears again and again.  And I couldn't be more proud of my little girl.

After the toy sort, we focused on cleaning the house from top to bottom. For one, it really needed it, but the fact that we decided to host Thanksgiving dinner here really motivated us into action.  My family made the drive up Thursday morning, and Punky's brothers also came with their girlfriends.  In all we had twelve people for dinner which was ready only a half hour later than planned.  Not bad for our first attempt at preparing the feast.  In typical holiday fashion, I ate way too much and gained over three pounds that weekend.  We're still not sure if we will see my family for Christmas this year, so it was nice to spend Thanksgiving together since we haven't done so in years.  Everyone left before six that evening, and the three of us were in bed and asleep by nine-thirty.  Aside from being exhausted from the whole holiday experience, we needed to get up at the crack of dawn on Friday.

Merry Christmas!

No, not for shopping.  Only crazy people brave the stores on Black Friday. We needed to be up and out early so Punky could make her parade debut. My company asked if she and I would be interested in riding on their float in the annual holiday parade in the city, and I knew Punky would be super-excited about it.  We wore matching fleeces, scarves, and Santa hats, and spent the morning waving to the crowds as our float made its way through the streets.  It was really cold and Punky's attention span lapsed about half way through the route, but it was still a fun way to spend the morning and kick off the holiday season.

Once we managed to bring our core temperatures back up to normal at home, it was time to tackle the decorating.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening trimming the tree and decking the halls.  Punky's godfather came up that night and helped us with the window lights and setting up my huge snowman collection, and on Saturday we hit the stores to tackle more Christmas shopping.

Our tree

That night I finished all the wrapping.  Santa isn't taking any chances with a sneaky three-year-old in the house.  I wanted it all wrapped so that if by chance she manages to get into the spare closet and catch glimpse, I could say they are the presents we bought for her cousins and hopefully the explanation will suffice.  Punky's smart.  Really, really smart.  And I can say without a doubt the whole Santa thing isn't going to last much longer.  I think will get through this year by dodging some questions and/or lying through our teeth, but I bet the jig will be up next year when she's about to turn five.  I was over Santa by that age, too.  It simply wasn't logical to me.  There were too many conflicting stories.  And no one was going to tell me any man was squeezing through our tiny Franklin fireplace with a bag full of presents. Screw magic, I wasn't buying it.  And then, of course, I filled my little sister in on it.

So now, we wait.  December is looking like an extremely busy month so time will go quickly.  I'd say I'm ninety-five percent done shopping.  We will be making a trip home mid-month for my family's annual Pollyanna Christmas party, and I'm excited to go since I miss it most years because it's held where people have dogs and cats in the house.  This is only the second time in five years that we will be attending.  Oh, and the night before I am going to my sister's company Christmas party.  She asked me to go and I'm looking forward to a night out.  I never get those.  Ever.  It sounds like it will be a blast, and I already anticipate a bit of a hangover the next morning.  I haven't had one of those in years either, and with all the stress life's tossed my way as of late, I think the headache will be totally worth it.