Some Holiday Updates...and a special surprise!

As I'm sure you can tell, it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything. I guess that's just me being lazy. I promise to do better from now on; pinky swear.

So, Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is on it's way. We always go to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving dinner, and everyone brings something. I made a dessert I found on Pinterest: marshmallow whipped cheesecake. You can find the recipe here. It was a bit of a last minute choice, but it turned out great, and it's super easy to make. I should have taken some pictures, but I always forget.

We also have an interesting Thanksgiving tradition at my cousin's house. Every year, after stuffing ourselves with a huge awesome meal, we play bingo. There are even little prizes (mostly dollor store gifts and scratch-offs). It's a great way for the family to have fun together. So instead of the arguments about politics and gossip a lot of families get into when they get together for the Holiday, we have arguments about whether B9 has been called yet ("Pay attention next time." "Well, if you didn't call the numbers so fast, I wouldn't have to ask!"). There's plenty of laughter all around at our Holiday get-togethers.

Along with turkey and bingo, I've been pretty busy lately (and I got a nice cold from all the running around this month). Our church missions group has been doing a lot to get ready for the mission trip to Romania next year. We had a meeting with the business committee at the church, so that we could explain what we would be doing there, and they could decide how much they would help us with financially. It was pretty nerve-racking. But their generosity was above and beyond. They've decided to donate $5000 to the trip, and they are paying for our tickets entirely ahead of time. We just have to pay them back the difference at some point. It was truly amazing to realize that we really were going to be able to go.

To thank the church, we spent part of Saturday evening decorating for the Christmas season.

This Saturday is another fundraiser. gift-wrapping and a cookie exchange! So tomorrow I get to bake again. This time I promise to remember to take pictures of my cookie-making process.


P.S. I just found out some amazing news! One of my best friends is having a baby! I'm going to be an "aunt" again!