Carolers

After my grandma passed away last January, I was given her Byers' Choice Caroler collection. With my mom's help, we found the perfect spot for them in the dinning room this holiday season. It took a little rearranging, but I think we got them just right. Grandma was very particular about how her carolers were set up. Actually, she was a little bossy about how we set them up for her, but this was why we all loved grandma so much. If we didn't get their placement just the way she wanted, she would let us know. I know my grandma is looking down on all of us, so I hope I have the carolers set up to her liking. I think they look great and make a great addition to my holiday decor. What a special collection to hold onto.

Thankful

I love Thanksgiving.

I love the preparations.

I love the smell of the kitchen.

I love the thankfulness and traditions.

I love the food (especially dessert).

I love the over-stuffed company on the couch at the end of the evening.

I am grateful we were able to have our families with us on Thanksgiving. Life is so good. Edward and I have so much to be thankful for this year. We are truly blessed.

And yes, I am still full.

Random Thoughts

1. Did you know that the club level at HSBC Arena has its own bathroom, bar, vendors and servers that come right to your seat to take your order? Who knew??? I sat there for the first time because of tickets that my father-in-law won and got to experience all of this first hand. Edward and I are usually in the 300 level where our season tickets are. The people are spoiled in this part of the arena....they don't even have to mix with the common folk ticket holders. Oh yeah...Pominville is my favorite Buffalo Sabre.

2. The holiday season is upon us! I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving and all the happenings ahead of us. For those of you joining us for Thanksgiving, we have a small way of showing you how grateful we are. We also have a fun Turkey Day game to play with a prize going to the winner!

3. Going to Grove City for the first time for some holiday shopping this weekend! Road trip + shopping = my favorite things. Trying to sort out who we need to buy gifts for and what we're getting them.

4. I'm finally reading the second Twilight book. Yes I know, I'm a few years behind. Better late than never.

5. Walking Dead on AMC is a new show Edward and I started watching recently. It's about zombies and keeps my heart racing throughout the entire hour.

6. Still going strong in a suicide football pool. Six weeks to go and the big jackpot could be mine. 345 people already eliminated, 47 (including me) with one loss, and 12 undefeated. Don't want to get my hopes up, but it would be freakin' sweet to win! And I also need to make note that the two Przylucki men (football experts) were out weeks ago.

7. (Christine-this one's for you) This guy was king of the playground while visiting. When did he and his sister get so big? Can't wait to spend the weekend baby sitting the kiddos in a few!

8. Both of these photos were taken with my iPhone. Pretty sweet camera for a phone.

A Thanksgiving Tasting

Another "Mystery Trip" was planned. This time we headed to an orchard for an evening of eating. The long car ride there was again filled with guesses and hints about where we were going. Upon our arrival at Hurd Orchards there was still some curiosity as to what the evening would entail. We roamed the adorable gift shop for a bit before heading into a beautiful barn. The owners of the orchard spoke to us about the history of the establishment and how this year marked their twenty fifth Thanksgiving Tasting. The tasting included 25 recipes ranging from appetizers to desserts. Many of the ingredients came from the Orchard itself and apples played a role in many of the dishes. Our table's favorites were the broccoli tart and pork pie. Not too many pictures were taken because we were all too busy stuffing our faces with delicious food!

Semper Fidelis

Ed here.

Yesterday was the 235th birthday of the United States Marine Corps and today is Veteran's Day. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all the men and women who put their lives on the line for each and every one of us each and every day. And an extra special thanks to two members of the Greatest Generation and World War II vets, my grandfathers, Don Hahne and Edward Przylucki.

Happy Halloween

My dad and sister Molly came over to witness the madness in our village. My Dad could not believe the swarms of people on the street that were coming to our house. We all had some chili for dinner before the rush of trick-or-treaters. It didn't seem to warm these two up enough. They needed our Snuggies to keep warm. They make nice costumes!

Our Jack-o-lantern thanks to Edward's carving skills.

This was our new candy bowl. I had to get it when I saw it at a craft show back in September.

I had to yell at this guy on several occasions to stop eating the precious candy.

Trying to look innocent.

We were better prepared this year with our supply of candy. At the end of the night we counted up how many pieces of candy were in each bag that we went through and it looks like we had about 750 trick-or-treaters this year! We never left the porch. There were several times in the evening where we had two lines formed up to our house to get candy and we were both handing it out. INSANE!!!