6 1/2 days.....

6 1/2 days until Thanksgiving break.  My kids are ready for a long break from school.  I am ready too.  I love Thanksgiving.  There is all the wonderful food---I am a sucker for roasted turkey and pumpkin pie.  It is the official start of Christmas---for me anyway---although I must confess to already listening to some Christmas music.  The weather is FINALLY getting cool and feeling like fall.  I LOVE it! 
And don't forget Black Friday.  The Mr. and I go out shopping every year.  We DID NOT like it last year when so many retailers made the change to midnight start instead of the usual 4 or 5 a.m.  Many, many more people were out---ones that otherwise wouldn't have gotten up at 4 to go out.  We couldn't get in to some of the stores and we really didn't get anything until around 4 anyway.  So, we are not doing the midnight thing this year.  We are going to wait until 4 or 5 as usual. 
We are changing the boys' Christmas list this year.  We are using the "1 thing I need, 1 thing I'll wear, 1 thing I'll read and 1 thing I want" idea that has been going around on Pinterest.  They also get to list 3 things that they want Santa to bring although they may not get all three (depending on what they ask for).  There is just too much stuff.  They don't even know what they get or what they have.  So, we are going to give them less, and maybe they will appreciate more.  We are also going to do some "grateful gifts"  I saw something like this on Pinterest, where you do something each day for someone else.  I want the kids to participate though, so I think we are going to do a few during Thanksgiving break and then some more during Christmas break.  I've come up with a few ideas:  making shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, taking a box of food to the food bank, but I also want the kids to come up with some ideas.  The Mr. and I are really trying to get them to focus on others and realize how blessed they are and sharing those blessings with others. 
I have lots to show you that I have been working on.  We repainted the boys' bathroom this weekend.  Once I have it finished I will post some pics, along with other stuff I've been working on. 
Blessings friends!
Tracey