# Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner!



## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

Well, Thanksgiving is just around the corner! So what does everyone have planned?? Does anyone else go shopping on Black Friday???

We have TONS of different places we have to visit, and I always have ALOT of baking to do. I think this year I am going to do pecan praline grahams, a pumpkin roll, and maybe some peanut butter cupcakes with fudge icing or brownies to take everywhere! Then in a few weeks me and my family will have to start cooking our Christmas goodies :drool: ! Oh... and the day after Thanksgiving, my mother, aunt, a few of my friends, and myself all go shopping for Black Friday! We take our shopping seriously :ROFL: We usually all gather at my house and leave between 3:30AM and 4:00AM (you gotta get their earlier to get the good deals). On Thanksgiving evening we all get together and look at the sales paper, and figure out which places we need to go to and list them in order of which ones we need to get to first (you are really gonna get a kick out of this... :ROFL: ). Then we decide who we will be dropping off at each store to wait in line, and at what time I will pick everyone up from their designated stores to go to the next one on the list jointly. LOL We have got this down to a science! :ROFL: :doh: I get most of my Christmas shopping done on that day, so afterwards I can just enjoy Christmas time :greengrin: Then normally on Saturday I will start getting out all of my Christmas decorations for indoors and outdoors and start putting them up. Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday (can you tell? :wink: )! , with Halloween running a close second :greengrin: .

So what about everyone else? What does your Thanksgiving week usually consist of? Oh, and if anyone wants to share recipes, I would be more than willing to offer up any of my own :hi5:


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

you are making me tired just thinking about it - :ROFL: :ROFL:


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

kelebek said:


> you are making me tired just thinking about it - :ROFL: :ROFL:


Thats what I was thinking :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:

I'm not a fan of the holidays(long story) but we're going down to my grandma's on thanksgiving and having dinner there, and on christmas we're going down to see her again, and my cousins from NC will be home at Christmas too.

Our Christmas shopping was done several months ago, well except dad still needs to take me shopping for a gun :greengrin:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> you are making me tired just thinking about it - :ROFL: :ROFL:


Oh my.....me to.. :shocked: .LOL :ROFL:


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## FarmGirl18 (Oct 5, 2007)

Wow Brandi!! Sounds like you do some SERIOUS shopping! That's neat though, my Mom loves going shopping then too...but we are going to Houston this year for a family get together. We're looking forward to it!


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## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

kelebek said:


> you are making me tired just thinking about it - :ROFL: :ROFL:


 :greengrin:

We always have a great time! But yes... by the end of the week I am always exhausted :coffee2:



goathappy said:


> Our Christmas shopping was done several months ago, well except dad still needs to take me shopping for a gun :greengrin:


 Goodness! I wish I had my Christmas shopping done that early! I always have those few people that don't want to give me lists until the last minute though :angry:

Honestly... for the Christmas all I would LOVE to have is a WHITE Christmas! And I mean WHITE not slush, and on Christmas day! :snow: :snowbounce: :snowlaugh: :snowcool: :snowman: :snowhat: Do you know how long it has been since we have actually had enough snow here to make a snowman?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? :hair: And yes... I am a grown woman fussing because she hasn't been able to make a snowman :help:


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

You wanna come up here for christmas? We have lots and lots of snow by then  You can take home all the snow you want.


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## heavenlyhaven (Apr 17, 2008)

i have to work black friday at Kmart :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: 
in lay-a-way and i have had tons of calls asking
"can i put 'black friday' on lay a way?"
6am to 11am
thank goodness its only 5 hours but still...
i'm one of those ppl that hide out in my house thanksgiving and black friday
i have to work thanksgiving to
8-2
so i don't know what we will do for dinner
maybe go to ponderosa????


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

goathappy said:


> Thats what I was thinking :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:
> 
> I'm not a fan of the holidays(long story) but we're going down to my grandma's on thanksgiving and having dinner there, and on christmas we're going down to see her again, and my cousins from NC will be home at Christmas too.
> 
> Our Christmas shopping was done several months ago, well except dad still needs to take me shopping for a gun :greengrin:


ditto here. i dare not venture out in a store till january


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

Yeah i really don't like holidays, I like the decorarting a bit, but other than that holidays are too stressful and depressing, I get excited for them though.

This year for Thanksgiving my brother and sister and their families are coming, and on Friday our newest priest from Nigeria is going to have Thanksgiving left-overs with us. 

Christmas - I guess I already explained that on my Christmas thread.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

LOVE LOVE LOVE Thanksgiving. It will be at my Aunts who lives next door. My brother comes home on Thanksgiving day so it will be fun to have him home --- though i have to work friday and saturday  

I want to go shopping on black Friday ---- I have in the past. But not sure if I can as I have to be at work at 12:00pm :sigh: I maybe able to get to a couple stores if I get up early like you said you will Brandi.......I just hate the cold and dont like shopping alone -- no fun. So if I can shop with my aunt or my sister I may just do it :greengrin:


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## FunnyRiverFarm (Sep 13, 2008)

I don't really have any plans for Thanksgiving...my family celebrated early because everyone else is going to be busy on the actual day/weekend. My husband leaves for Pennslyvania the day after Thankgiving for his annual hunting trip with his cousins...he won't be home until the following wednesday. I would go with him but there's no girls allowed...lol...

I went black friday shopping with my mom one year and nearly got trampled by a woman trying to be the first to get to the furby's...haven't been out again since. LoL. I think a few too many people leave manners and common courtesy at home that day.


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

yea.. i did that once.. never again. people are idiots when it comes to buying trivial little things that really don't amount to much.. all just posessions that take up space


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## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

goathappy said:


> You wanna come up here for christmas? We have lots and lots of snow by then  You can take home all the snow you want.


 Very, VERY tempting :shades: When I was a kid there were quite a few Christmas' that we had snow! I even have a pic of me, my Dad, my Pappaw, and my dog (at the time) building a HUGE snowman and having a snowball fight! I would LOVE to have that much snow here again! ray:



heavenlyhaven said:


> i have to work black friday at Kmart :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:
> in lay-a-way and i have had tons of calls asking
> "can i put 'black friday' on lay a way?"
> 6am to 11am
> thank goodness its only 5 hours but still...


oooo.... that doesn't sound like fun at all! When I was in college I worked at Wal-Mart during Christmas, IN THE TOY DEPARTMENT :help: AND I had to work Black Friday! I am telling you, people would bring their kids by there during Christmas and just drop them off! I would straighten one isle and by the time I got to the end of it I would turn around and EVERYTHING would be torn up again! :angry: :hair:



StaceyRoop said:


> LOVE LOVE LOVE Thanksgiving. It will be at my Aunts who lives next door. My brother comes home on Thanksgiving day so it will be fun to have him home --- though i have to work friday and saturday
> 
> I want to go shopping on black Friday ---- I have in the past. But not sure if I can as I have to be at work at 12:00pm :sigh: I maybe able to get to a couple stores if I get up early like you said you will Brandi.......I just hate the cold and dont like shopping alone -- no fun. So if I can shop with my aunt or my sister I may just do it :greengrin:


I know the feeling!!! It is kind of our tradition to go together every year. We have a blast!

And yes, people do tend to leave their manners at home on that day (assuming they ever had any :roll: )! A few years ago me and one of my friends were in the toy section. My friend was pushing the buggy, and we had picked up gifts for her kids that they REALLY, REALLY wanted that were on sale and were walking down the isle (the kids weren't with us of course, though). A woman came up beside us, reached in our buggy, and grabbed the carebear we had waited in line for and started to walk off with it! Now, I try to be nice to everyone, and I am pretty good at controlling my temper... but that woman just tipped me over the edge! I stopped her and said "excuse me?" she said "oh, is that your's? (really sarcastically)", and said "hun, It was in OUR buggy AND we were PUSHING the buggy... so what would make you think that it WASN'T our's?". She handed me the bear back and walked away. Some people just try to see how much they can get away with! But I have NEVER been one to let people walk all over me! Anyways... when we go shopping on Black Friday, we go with the understanding that people are going to be rude, in a hurry, tired, and pushy, and we make it a point to keep our spirits up and have a good time :wink: Despite all the ugly people that surface on that day, we all thoroughly enjoy spending the time together and having fun! :greengrin:


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## Pam B (Oct 15, 2007)

Thanksgiving is spent deer hunting, eating at Grandma's house, then more deer hunting. Back before I started raising turkeys I used to get to go hunting in the morning with my husband. But then the family discovered that I had these really yummy, huge turkeys that I had raised and they drafted me to cook the turkey every year. That put an end to my morning hunt. But I still go out in the afternoon/evening and leave all the dishwashing to the non-hunting aunts, uncles and cousins.

I have never done the black Friday thing and will do all I can to avoid it for the rest of my life. I don't like shopping on any other day of the year, so I would be totally miserable fighting those crowds for a cart load of "stuff". Hubby and I do all our Christmas shopping throughout the year as we listen and pay attention to things that the people on our gift list are interested in. So there really is no reason for me to subject myself to the trampling and crowded stores.

Christmas is probably my favorite holiday. But the things I like most about it are baking Christmas cookies with my children; making homemade gifts for people; cutting the Christmas tree at a friend's tree farm with the whole family; decorating the tree while watching Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate and eating all those Christmas cookies that we made. My children are all adults and out of the house now, but they still come back home for Christmas and look forward to going out to get the tree together.


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

That sounds like fun Pam! And I hear ya on the turkey thing, store bought just isn't the same as home raised, this year my mom and I went to turkey bingo, we each won one, so, lucky for our turks, they don't hit the bucket this Thanksgiving, but gosh those store bought turkeys sure are small compared to the real thing.


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## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

Pam B said:


> Christmas is probably my favorite holiday. But the things I like most about it are baking Christmas cookies with my children; making homemade gifts for people; cutting the Christmas tree at a friend's tree farm with the whole family; decorating the tree while watching Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate and eating all those Christmas cookies that we made. My children are all adults and out of the house now, but they still come back home for Christmas and look forward to going out to get the tree together.


I know the feeling! When I was a kid we used to go to a local Christmas tree farm and we would all compete to see who could find the perfect tree. Alot of times my cousins went with us (there are 9 of us on one side of the family and 4 on the other). We always had so much fun! Now I still go back some Christmas's to purchase live wreaths and such. They also have hot apple cyder (my favorite!) and horse drawn carriage rides for all the customers. We always LOVE getting together to bake all the Christmas goodies, and when I was little my mother would play christmas songs on the OLD record player that she has while we baked and decorated the tree. These are all a FEW of the MANY traditions I plan on doing when I have children :greengrin: We also LOVE going out and looking at Christmas lights! We have ALOT of different places around her that do BIG displays, and one place that does lights every year and lets people drive through their driveway to see everything. They put up ALOT of decorations! I will try to save a clipping from the paper about them this year to show everyone. Also, on my side of the family, we all get together on Christmas Eve night to bake and eat homemade pizza and open our gifts to one another!

We have TONS of places to go during Christmas! Here is a run down...

Weekend Before Christmas...
1. we go to my Nannie's house to play Greedy Christmas with all my relatives on my Dad's side of the family (some of them live in Kentucky, and TN so we have to get together early so they can all spend Christmas at their homes as well).

Christmas Eve....
1. we go to Lee's Aunt's house on his Dad's side for a big breakfast and exchanging gifts 
2. for lunch we go to his parents house and exchange gifts with his Aunt on his Mother's side 3. after lunch we exchange gifts with Lee's parents and brother
4. for supper we go to his Great-Grandfather's house (he is 85 years old) to eat with all of Lee's family on his Dad's side (but we eat VERY light so we have room for what's next...)
5. we go to my parent's house to bake and eat homemade pizza and exchange gifts with my parents and my sister

Christmas Day....
1. we get to my Grandmother's house (on my Mom's side) at 8:30AM for breakfast and afterwards we exchange gifts (we draw names on that side.. my mom has 3 brothers and one sister which leaves me with 9 cousins! So we have to draw names :greengrin: ), and then draw names for next Christmas
2. we go to Lee's Grandmother's (on his Mom's side) for lunch with that side of the family
3. afterwards we usually go home, relax, and try to recooperate for the events of the last couple of days! Sometimes we will go visit my parents again.

And if you kept up with ALL of that then you are doing good :ROFL: Can you tell that we have ALOT of family??????????


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Brandi....you sure do have a fun filled holiday!

I usually work black Friday...No store, in a restaurant but it's just as crazy...we open at 6 for breakfast and there are so many people out at that hour either coming back from shopping or heading out...me, well even if I had the chance to hit the stores, I wouldn't, I don't like shopping any other time of the year and do it as minimal as possible!

I have been making Thanksgiving dinner for my family for the last 4 years....my mom, sister, niece and nephew and sissy's dh all come out to join me and my dh for dinner. We spend the day together and the kids are usually out playing with my goats while we all clean up.

Christmas dh and I have our Christmas at home and then we pack up the goodies Santa leaves here for my mom, and my sister and family...we then enjoy Christmas Dinner together at my moms. Simple and Cherished.....even more so since I lost my dad 3 1/2 years ago.


My DH does have 2 brothers but we seldon ever hear from them and DH doesn't really speak of them....he has family in Montana and North Dakota but it's been years since he's heard from them.

Family on my dad's side....well, lets just say that my granparents helped populate western PA! I have 17 aunts and uncles though most are gone now....and too many cousins to count them all! So with such a large family it is impossible to keep in touch with everyone.


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## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

Liz, your Thanksgiving and Christmas plans sounds wonderful! I really do LOVE Christmas, but sometimes I wish more of our family got along so we didn't have to go to quite so many different places.... but atleast we all get to see each other and that is what counts to me :wink: 

This year I have GOT to remember to take my camera and get pics of everyone for my photo album! I keep forgetting the darn thing at home :roll: But Lee's Great-Grandfather has had a rough couple of years (but is thankfully doing MUCH better now) so I want to catch as many memories on camera as I possibly can of him, Lee, and the family :greengrin: I might even take the video camera for Greedy Christmas!


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## redneck_acres (Oct 18, 2007)

I hate the idea of Black Friday-Christmas should be about being with family-not being greedy and obnoxious. Of course the store's dont help their customers by the way the advertise for that day.


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## Amy Goatress (Oct 2, 2008)

We don't do Black Friday here though, we usually do our shopping at Wal-Mart, online or through catalogs around here though since we don't have many stores to choose from where I live, LOL. 

We're doing a Thanksgiving dinner at our church on Thanksgiving Day, we're picking up my Dad's Mom from her Assisted Living on Wednesday and she'll be with us for Thanksgiving this year and the weekend my sister and brother-in-law are coming for a visit. November 29th is my Dad's office party this year but he only works at one office now though.

Since my birthday is December 10th which is my 26th.

We do a Christmas Eve program at our church every year though.

We'll probably get together with my one brother and his family, maybe my sister and my brother-in-law it depends on her schedule for work but we won't get to see my brother and his family that live in Georgia since their 2nd child is due in early February.


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

redneck_acres said:


> I hate the idea of Black Friday-Christmas should be about being with family-not being greedy and obnoxious. Of course the store's dont help their customers by the way the advertise for that day.


ditto.


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## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

Amy Goatress said:


> We don't do Black Friday here though, we usually do our shopping at Wal-Mart, online or through catalogs around here though since we don't have many stores to choose from where I live, LOL.
> 
> We're doing a Thanksgiving dinner at our church on Thanksgiving Day, we're picking up my Dad's Mom from her Assisted Living on Wednesday and she'll be with us for Thanksgiving this year and the weekend my sister and brother-in-law are coming for a visit. November 29th is my Dad's office party this year but he only works at one office now though.
> 
> ...


 That sounds like tons of fun Amy!! And Happy Early Birthday! (just incase I forget... I am TERRIBLE with dates! :wink: ) We always have ALOT of Birthdays through Thanksgiving. One of my Uncle's B-day is 11/23, my Mom's is 11/26, one of Lee's Aunt's is 11/27, and my Father-in-law's is 11/28! So we always have alot to celebrate! :leap:

So does anyone have any good recipes to share??? Maybe one that you do every year during the holidays?? And how far does everyone go with the Christmas decorations? None, a little, average, or WAY overboard?!?! LOL I guess I would fall in the "WAY overboard" category :wink: but it is just so much fun :stars:

Does anyone else have any neat traditions they would like to share?


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## Amy Goatress (Oct 2, 2008)

It is alot of fun Brandi and thank you for the early birthday wishes!

One of our many traditions is we open up all our gifts on Christmas Eve after our service at church and fellowship after the program at church on Christmas Eve, we have always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve ever since I came to the USA but it was one of my family's traditions.

Most of our birthdays in my family is in September though. My Uncle's ( my Mom's only sibling ) is September 1st, my Dad's Father's would have been September 6th but he passed away last February though, then my brother's is September 7th, my Dad's is September 16th and my sister's is September 21st, my brother's anniversary before he was divorced was September 11th.

My brother and his 2nd wife's anniversary is on Thanksgiving this year!


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## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

*Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!*


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