It’s the day before Thanksgiving…

The turkey is brining.

The stuffing is made.

The sweet potatoes are baking.

The new loves of my life are running.

Huh? What new loves of my life, you ask?

These:

(just ignore the pudding-coated child in mismatched clothes. i’m not sure where she’s from – she just likes having her picture taken, clearly).

So I’ve been begging and pleading with all my heart and bloody soul asking nicely if we can buy front loaders for about 3 years. Then FINALLY, but I swear I had nothing to do with it eventually our 10 year old washer got so old and off-balance that we couldn’t wash a single load without it walking across the floor.

While it did make for a good bit of exercise – and restraint in trying NOT to use bad words in front of my impressionable children – it was time for that sucker to go.

So Vic was very excited to inform me last week that GE had a United Way auction and he’d bid on and won a set of GE Profile Front-Loaders.

Well, after a very fun time – and restraint in trying NOT to use bad words in front of our impressionable children – we got those suckers in place.

They’re quiet. They’re fast. They look like some glorious space-age machine. And they don’t walk across the floor. They have more options and buttons than my camera…and I know what I am thankful for this year.

So tomorrow we’re spending Thanksgiving at home. We were invited to spend it with friends like previous years (our family is all in New York), but I love to cook and truly wanted an entire day to just hang with the family at home. If I can wear my jammies all day, it’s a GOOD day. Am I right??

This is my plan:

7:30: Wake up.

Eat cinnamon buns (gotta have the cinnamon buns!).

Think about going to the gym, watch Vic go out for a run, then eat another cinnamon bun while he’s gone. Lick the leftover frosting off the bottom of the pan.

9:00 Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and cry when the Rockettes come on. Why? No clue. But the parade just epitomizes the start of the Christmas season for me. I have a dream to someday see the Rockettes at Rockefeller Center, but I fear I’d just cry through the whole show.

Get the itch to run to the basement for my decorations, realize Vic would kill me, then decide to leave them there until he goes someplace tomorrow. Bwah haha.

10:00 Stuff the turkey (yes, we’re from the North, so it goes inside the turkey) and put it in the oven.

Happily remember that I prepared most things the day before. Woo!

1:00 Eat shrimp, cheese and crackers, chips and dip and watch football. In my jammies.

Hope that I still fit in my clothes in the morning.

3:00 Prep the rest of the meal – and have dinner. Our menu? Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, gravy…and pink slop. What is pink slop? A glorious Connelly family tradition that combines canned fruit, cool whip, jello mix and cottage cheese into a delectable, sweet bowl of Heaven.

Remember all the years that the only I wished for on Thanksgiving was another little person at the table. Then look at her, likely all covered in potatoes and gravy and fighting with her brother, and try not to cry. Realize I wish for nothing. That I have everything I’ve ever wanted.

Finish dinner…and be really happy I have a husband who likes to clean the table.

Go hug my front-loaders again.

3:30 Look at the pies (from Costco – don’t judge – I am a really good cook, but I can’t even bake cookies. And Costco has AMAZING pies). Realize I’ll enjoy them SO MUCH more in an hour or so. Nibble a piece of crust to tide me over.

4:00 More football. Try to read…end up falling asleep.

6:00 PIE!

So what are YOU doing tomorrow?!?!