Holidays....

First of all, the good: 
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with delicious food and quality time with your respective families.  This was an especially important turkey day for Dan and I as we were playing host to my parents and cooking the entire meal.  I definitely think we make an amazing team in the kitchen...maybe it's from all those years we spent eating in restaurants and watching various Gordon Ramsay shows.  I certainly feel we've come a long way in the last three months of cooking.  Although the preparation took most of yesterday, the meal came together with few complications and my parents we're extremely happy with results.  Here are a few pictures of the meal care of Dan's Flickr:

Now, the bad (aka - My Christmas Rant):
At some point in the last few years, a switch flipped in my brain and I now cringe when someone states any variation of the following:  It's Black Friday - the Christmas season is upon us!  Why does this sentence cause me such grief?  Here's why:

Apparently a healthy portion of the population believes that its perfectly acceptable, for the window of time between Black Friday and Christmas, to go fucking nuts over store sales and the latest gotta-have gadgets.  People who operate in this manner make me feel like I'm stuck in the movie 28 Days Later,  only lets make the infectious rage virus cause people to shop like assholes.  I just read that a Walmart worker was trampled to death this morning while opening a store in Long Island; the employee was apparently stepped on by hundreds people as they hurdled themselves into the store.  Seriously, what object is worth being that ruthless over?

Trust me, I understand that families want to surprise each other with the gifts they've been aching to own.  I also understand the significant impact of the economy on holiday budgets for many families....sales that pop up this time of year could very well be the difference between getting those gifts or heading home empty handed.  I sympathize with all of these scenarios, but they DO NOT condone barbaric behavior.

I would love to go to the stores and shop for my family at Christmas time....and I've tried in the past, unsuccessfully.  I've had items snapped out of my hands, my foot stomped on for a handbag I was looking to buy, and I've lost count as to how many times I've been pushed to the side to grab the last of something.  I never fought back because I didn't see the point.  The most I would do is tell the person he/she was mentally unhinged.  Needless to say, everything I buy this year will come from online retailers.  Amazon will see my credit card a lot this year.

In short,  I guess I would just like to urge these people to remember we are a country trying to work towards unity; the Christmas season is one of the most important times to not lose site of that.  There is no material possession on this earth that's worth hurting someone else over.  This includes taking things out of carts when a person turns his/her back for a moment.  I love being a consumer as much as the next girl (handbag collection, anyone?), but I'm not going to go nuts if don't get something I wanted.  Just try....respect is paramount.

Again, The Good(!):
Dan and I will continue our hosting duties into the Christmas season as both sets of parents are joining us on December 27th for a party and gift-giving.  I am very excited to be decorating and I plan on doing A LOT of baking!  More posts will be on their way... I know I've been pretty much AWOL for the last three months.

Anyway, I hope you all have wonderful time with the remainder of the holiday weekend.  And remember:  a pleasant shopper is a happy shopper. ;)