I've Been Waiting All Year for This!!!

 So it's finally happened! The first frost of the season!!!

This is OFFICIALLY the beginning of the holiday season for our family-the first frost of the season !! We wait for this event all year long!

It's almost as anticipated as the first snow of the season- or even Christmas Eve!!!!

Halloween is great for the kiddos, but for the adults, we watch/listen to the weather forecasts from mid-September onwards. Anticipation builds week after week. We never know when it will be!  We've had first frosts as early as September 20th- and as late as December 11th. 

Our family Tradition for the weekend after the first frost is to all get together for  a Bonfire Night! We make a huge pot of Texas Style Chili(with beans of course) and have all the usual toppings on it- 

Cheese- some like sharp, some like medium, some like mild. I usually have mild and sharp  and everyone can  mix and match to their taste. 

Sour Cream. ( I like Greek Yogurt as an alternative- it's got a similar twang to it and is a little healthy- but again- I usually have both.

Diced onions or chopped spring onions. We are a family divided on this one. Exactly half like one and half like the other. We have both.

That's all the toppings.

We usually have a few big family sized bags of Fritos too. Chili is NOT Chili without the Fritos. We all agree on that point.

We all grab a bowlful and there is rarely any left because everyone goes back for second and third helpings. 

Afterwards, we light the bonfire(or firepit depending on the wind) and we make S'mores for dessert for everyone. The kids run around in the leaves and climbing trees or riding bikes while the adults make smores and trade stories of days gone by. No one is allowed to be stuck to their electronics on Chili Night! It's all about the simplicity of life and interacting with Family.

Honestly it's my favorite event of the year with  my babies... and Grands, and now Great Grands!!!!

I'm so Blessed to have this in my life again. 

Manic Monday...

 I promise I will get a post up today. Yesterday was a Manic Monday and I literally didnt have time to take a break at all. 

Let's hope today isn't a second Monday.

You Cant Win...

 You think you know your job.  I mean, Been doing it for years and years and years. 

You decide to do something you have done off and on for as many times as needed and you take the initiative to do it without having to be instructed and what happens? Apparently you aren't supposed to do it unless asked by the client. Oh and undo what you've done- but if  someone asks us to we going to  redo it to what you did to begin with. 

We cant win.

 

Upcoming Holidays.....

 The weekend was interesting to say the least. 

Saturday I cleaned the shared areas of our house, put away all the Halloween Decor and added more Autumn decor for Thanksgiving. 

Our bedrooms are our personal space to be kept/decorated as we want them( as long as it's not left to go filthy and attracting pests of all/any sizes and species, that is. I try not to look too often, my level of clean is a half foot about a normal person's.)

 I've deep cleaned & organized mine at least 20x since moving in in May and it's still not done to my satisfaction to be honest. Granddaughter is a typical teen- but I have to say recently she has started coming back from her Dad's visit and immediately straightens her room. Yay!! My daughter likes hers clean but lived in and I'm fine with that too. 

So shared spaces are looking awesome- BUT- I'm about to start moving everything around for Putting up the Christmas Tree and Christmas decor.

First of all, I put up an Autumn Tree. Small topiary tree we intended to use for the from porch, but it just looked so lovely on the dining table I decided to just leave it there for now. 

I took all the smaller bits of autumn floral decor and put them all on the topiary tree. They are not attached so when Thanksgiving is over I can literally just pick the floras and ribbons off and put them in a box and label it for next year. Reuse the tree for Our Christmas topiary next to the front door. 

Next weekend I'll be decorating my Bezzie's apartment for Christmas, but the following weekend I'll be making the window swags for the front of the house. Also  we have a HUGE over sized wreath for the porch light on the second floor above the front entrance, and a large one for the front door to co-ordinate colors with the swags.

It's going to be fun. I'm in my element!

Only my sister and nephew showed up for "Sunday Dinner At Vada's" last night. That's fine. I don't think it's realistic to expect everyone to be there every single Sunday. It's just not going to happen with a large working family. We are extremely lucky to get together on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll have to work most holidays- I was only off last year for Christmas because it was my first Christmas back from England and hadn't celebrated Christmas with my family in 13 years I was over there. That was the condition I had for taking the job- I wanted Christmas off that first year. But now it's back to reality. Working most Holidays. So I'm going to have to plan Thanksgiving and Christmas with perfect timing to be able to do it. It will be fine.