My chicks are safely home!

They arrived safe and sound and happy yesterday morning.  We all gathered at Jeannie's house, except for Sarah who stayed home to sleep after being awake for 41 hours straight!  Thanksgiving dinner was a feast, especially to me who never cooks anything that takes time or effort to prepare.

The kids enjoyed their week at St. Lucia so much that they booked for next year before leaving.  Donald took a lot of photos which he showed on their huge TV screen.  I think they are all taking the kids next year, and the following year want to go to Jamaica!  They stayed at a Sandals resort where you prepay a set amount and then don't have to pay for anything during your stay - no tips even!  You can eat any time your want, and drink anytime and anything you want.  I would have been inebriated  the entire time, although I would have probably fallen asleep after the 2nd drink!  It looked like fun for  younger folks - street parties every night and a lot of activities.    I miss a lot of things about getting old, but partying isn't one of them - and I loved to party when I was young and single!

The newspaper had a couple of interesting items this morning - "Many say Black Friday has lost its thrill as day of big bargains".  I could have predicted it would be run into the ground after a few years.  But what are people doing in its place?  Shopping online, what else!  Does anyone else remember the old days (before cell phones) when you went Christmas shopping, enjoying the ever increasing number of parcels to carry from store to store?  The Christmas music playing from the speakers in every store?  The friendliness of folks to absolute strangers, and a "Merry Christmas" to everyone you met?  Ah, but shopping online is going to be so much easier and you don't have to leave your house!  That was always one of the good things about it - leaving the house and getting the Christmas spirit!    I lost the spirit of Christmas a long time ago for several reasons, but the sheer over-commercialization of the holiday is what finally did it in for me.

Another article warned that one should never eat raw cookie dough - it seems there can be devastating effects from consuming raw flour???  Flour, of all things?  I remember being warned about raw eggs, but that never stopped me from eating raw cookie dough - especially chocolate chip dough!  I used to make big batches of chocolate chip cookie dough, bake a couple of trays which I let the kids eat as soon as they came out of the oven, and saved the remaining dough in the fridge in a bowl covered with aluminum foil.  Every single one of the kids and I would sneak to the fridge periodically, lift the foil and spoon out a big chunk of dough.  I would always tell my kids sternly that I didn't want them to get into the dough, but we all did it.  I recall once being very careful to be quiet, but the damn crinkle of the aluminum foil must have given me away, as I heard my oldest quietly tell the other kids "She's into the cookie dough"!  None of us ever died or even got sick from consuming raw flour I'm glad to report.

Thinking about the holiday spirit, I made a quick trip to the grocery this morning and realized there was no bell-ringing from the Salvation Army volunteer.  I thought they always began the day after Thanksgiving.  They used to position themselves inside the store, near the exit, but sometime during last season they were relegated to being just outside the store.  I hope no one would complain about them being inside the store!  They certainly are not pushy, seem grateful for whatever you put into their  offering container, and is one organization that gives what they collect to the needy.

I think I've rambled on for more than I probably should.  Happy post-Thanksgiving weekend to you all.