Thanksgiving, black Friday, and Advent

I'm back my peeps! ;D After a week of no posting....I'm bad :p I hope all your Thanksgiving's went very well. Mine was great. A little awkward considering we had to go to my uncle's house. A couple years ago he just left my aunt and cousins out of the blue and lost his mind and married a waitress from Costa Rica with two girls. That's the short version :p And keep in mind my mom's entire side is Catholic. So....it's didn't go over well with us. Or the church for that matter...but it really was okay, and I'm just grateful this woman and her daughters are happy here. The oldest turned 16 in June, and I'm pretty close with her. So I finally have someone to talk to at family functions besides my aunts or guy cousins. We had a language barrier for a bit, but it just so happened I was taking Spanish when I met her. So I was able to translate and speak a good amount. She speaks English fairly fluently now. I love her accent! It's so pretty :) Afterwards I went to my cousin E's house for an impromptu sleepover because her mom said she'd take us out shopping. I've never been black Friday shopping, and I've always wanted to see what it was like. We didn't go out at midnight or 5 am :p I was still dead to the world then. I was wiped by 7 but watched a movie until 11 ;) My cousin and I didn't wake up until 8:45 ;D So we went shopping at Meijer, Kohl's, Bed Bath and Beyond, then the mall. She and I had a pretty good bonding day. She's only 12, and we've had major issues with each other in the past. I know, how much trouble can a young girl be? Plenty. Being spoiled all her life doesn't help, and her mouth is an apprentice to a sailor's :p She's a lot better though, and we always get along much better when we're alone. I got my sister's and Maeve's Christmas presents along with a friend's b-day present. In the mall we ended up going to Barnes and Noble where I almost bought a book I wanted, but my cousin said she wanted to get it for me for Christmas. Who was I to argue? ;D ;D Then we went to T.J. Max, Bath and Body Works, some ice cream place for her to get a cone, and Claire's. I used to go to that store a lot. Loved it. And the prices were great. When I saw the prices there yesterday, I almost went through the roof :p We high-tailed it out of there. Then we went to JC Penney's to look around. We went to the restrooms first, and it STUNK to high heavens in there :p :p I can't be nice or discreet about it. It was nasty :p Anywho, we went back down the escalators and looked at pj's and other stuff. We had around half and hour left, so we decided to ride the escalator ;D And we even did the Elf split thing ;D I couldn't get my front leg to stay down, so I ended up lunging all the way to the top ;D The people going down always stared at us ;D I was cracking up ;D It was so much fun, and now I miss it. But now I'm looking forward to the first Sunday of Advent which...drumroll please.....is tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!! I personally can't believe it :p It seems just like yesterday my friend Elly got married ;) Which was April 30th, if I'm not mistaken. And I myself have been married for almost 5 months! My beautiful twin Maeve has been married for almost 3 months. I know I'm getting old because time is going so fast :p November has gone by in the blink of an eye, but October seemed to go on forever. Anyway, tomorrow my family and I are going to get our Christmas tree! I'm so excited ;D I look forward to this all year. We know the couple who own the farm really well, and they're so nice. They have a pole barn where they have Christmas music playing on the radio, and the wife always make her sugar cookies and has peanuts and candy out. She also make wreaths from the boughs of felled trees and decorates them. It's tradition and I love it ;D Every year my mom says on the way out, "We'll see you next year!" And the lady responds, "It'll be here before you know it!" And it always. comes. faster. every. year. Seriously. I remember what I was doing on March 12th of this year.A pro-life club I'm in was having a talent show and I performed in it. I'm now going to get my Christmas tree tomorrow. Time is just...weird. I always used to think one week took forever to get through up until two years ago. Now I realize how fast one day goes after another. And I think every week I remember how all adults say "life is so short. A blink of an eye." I'm only beginning to realize how right they are. Okay, I'm getting all nostalgic on you ;) To end off on a lighter note, I hope all of you have a wonderful beginning season of Advent tomorrow, and know that Christmas is only 29 days away ;)