And the Winner Is...

The winner of my CSN $35 gift certificate giveaway is Jaime T! Congratulations!

We are all getting into the holiday spirit in the Holloway house. For us Thanksgiving is the official kick-off of the Christmas season although unofficially we've been listening to Christmas music for weeks.

Addison informed me Saturday, "Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I love to eat!" Right back at ya, kiddo! Last year we celebrated Thanksgiving by visiting Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven during our trip back to Aberdeen and then had our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday with other university families since no one had Thursday off from work. It makes my throat catch a little to think that it has now been a full year since we've been back. I concoct scenarios all the time of becoming fabulously wealthy and buying a lovely granite home on the West End where Trey and I become full-time ex-pats and pop over to the continent for our summer holidays. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Back to reality. Thanksgiving means a long weekend and probably lots of little projects around the house like retouching paint and shampooing the rugs. We'll be eating Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house with all my siblings and other extended relatives. The boys are excited to help me make a coconut custard pie to add to the feast and a buttermilk pie to hoard at home. Trey has recently introduced this southern specialty into our sweets repertoire, and this northern lass has to admit that it's pretty darn good. The amazing foods I've been introduced to as a result of marrying a southerner have been an unexpected and delectable bonus. Grits, barbeque, fried okra, red velvet cake, buttermilk pie. And if you ask nicely, I might just post my mother-in-law's buttermilk pie recipe *wink, wink*

Wishing you all a relaxing, and rich Thanksgiving with the ones you love!