Oh yah, it's the holidays.

Before I even start, I just needed to get this off of my chest.
I have to tell someone.
My husband is watching a movie on the Lifetime channel.
And he won't stop.
He is engrossed in The Road to Christmas.
Yeah, I know.
He just said, "And you love it, too...We're losers."
(Pretty sure this is not the high point in Jennifer Grey's career.)

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Anywho.
Everyone has warned me that the holidays were going to be hard.
I was pretty sure that they were dumb.
I'm now 100% sure that I am dumb.
Because they were totally right.

Dave and I went up to Minnesota to spend Thanksgiving with his family.
He and I drove up on Wednesday evening.
And, in between our conversations about George Washington Carver
and Arizona being the 48th state
and watching season 3 of Dexter,
we mentioned Maggie only a few times.
Like how our backseat was empty.
And how it shouldn't have been.

Dave built this when he was in high school.  He watches Lifetime movies and builds stuff out of wood.

We went to church on Thursday morning.
I was good.
Just fine
until
I heard baby squeaks behind me.
You know what I mean, right?
Those cute little squeaks of newborn-ness.
Those ones.
Those heart-melting
little squeaks.

I kept singing
and only stole one little glance back at that little bundle
of two-week-old goodness.
And quickly realized that that was a terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad idea.
I held it together.
For awhile.
And, then.
They just came.
Stupid tears.
And I couldn't stop them.

Then, the panic set in.
Because I knew the service would be ending soon and we would be socializing
and I would be that lady.
The one that was crying awkwardly
and no one knows whether they should look at her
or just look away.
I'm hoping they just thought I had really bad allergies.
Or I got a giant paper cut from the hymnal.
Or something.

I'll just say this.
It's really hard to sing songs of thanksgiving.
I know I have a lot to be thankful for.
But still.
Thank goodness that I then proceeded to help myself to a delicious
food coma for the next few hours.
Can I get an amen?
Amen.

Other highlights of the weekend:

• Visiting the new coffee shop in his hometown with his mama.  I ate the most delicious cream horn there. The only thing that could have improved the whole situation would be 1.) elastic comfy pants 2). a fireplace 3.) a bundle of squeaking goodness of my own next to me.
• Getting a sewing machine from my mother-in-law.  I am now going to be in the running for Most Perfect and Wonderful Wife. I just need to wear high heels on a regular basis and bear him some healthy childrens. At the same time. That shouldn't be too tough. Oh wait.  I thought that 4 freaking years ago.
• Dave and I drove to the Twin Cities for a quick trip. I got to meet some friends for lunch (which consisted of us stuffing our faces with delicious foods and drinks) while trying to smash 3 years of life into a 2.5 hour conversation.  Fantastic.  So good.  I missed them and their crazy Minnesotan accents and Minnesota niceness.  I miss them.  And those cities. 
• I got to have some Caribou Coffee.  The line was forever. And everyone in line had boots with the fur. 

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And, I have some plans for posting a bit more often this week.  In fact, my plan of posts include (not in any order):

• Your Nature Guide to Hawks and why they are awesome
• Archived pictures from Summer that Have been Resurrected from the dead
• More resurrected pictures from the summer.
• What Santa should bring me for Christmas
• Some new favorites

And, just because everyone should be able to enjoy this Minnesota awesomeness.