Kat’s birthday landed on Thanksgiving this year, so that always makes it hard to make it special. We wanted to make it very special this year, since she was turning sweet sixteen and all, so we let her have a party on Monday. Here was a snag, though: I worked on Monday. So she essentially threw her own party without the parents. She does a lot of activities at the library, so she got the librarian to allow her to use a room in the back where they could eat pizza and hang out. We set things up so that a friend of hers could take her up to Costco and get the pizza and cupcakes. She’s into manga and anime and overall Japanese culture, so when we ordered the cakes, I googled the Japanese characters for ‘Happy’ and ‘Sweet’ and Costco was good enough to oblige us and write ‘Happy Sweet 16′ in Japanese! Alas, being a teenager, she didn’t think to take a picture for her parents, but I digress, and she seemed to love it!

Then it was on to Thanksgiving preparation. We don’t have any family around us right now, so our Thanksgiving is just us. I enjoy spending that one day preparing a meal without shortcuts (I got to make bread!) and generally enjoying each other’s company. The night before Thanksgiving, I bought the Christmas tree. One of my favorite moments with Calli, my three year old, this year, was when she was in the garage with me while I attempted to cut an inch off the base of the tree.

‘You look kinda like Iron Man.’ She said.

‘Oh really? I look like Iron Man?’

‘Yeah. He’s my friend.’ She added, quickly changing her mind, ‘Oh, No! I talk to myself, and I’m Iron Man!’

‘You’re Iron Man because you talk to yourself?’ I chuckled.

‘YEAH!’ She was into it now. ‘I’m Iron Man, and I talk to myself!!’

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Online, I can be anyone I want, so I will now tell you that the Christmas tree is beautifully decorated in our living room. I will not be honest and tell you I still have to finish stringing the lights and then put the ornaments on. I won’t tell you that the living room is still strewn with various holiday paraphernalia.

Of course, being a retail Assistant Manager, I also had to work extra this week preparing for blitz, Black Friday, the ‘Event’. I’d imagine most of you are in lines or shopping various retail establishments as I write this, hoping to get all the best deals. I happened to luck out this year, getting Thanksgiving off and not going in today until 8am. Of course, I have a list from my wife of what I should try to buy on the way in, hence my haste in throwing up this post in a hurry in order to achieve the ‘Honey dos’ before going into work.

I’d better get going, but I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Be safe today and be sure to appreciate that cashier/sales associate in whatever stores you’re in from now until Christmas. They’re working hard!