Would sugar free ice cream be cheating?

This Thanksgiving holiday flew by and now I have to get ready to go back to work. There is nothing exciting about going back to work at a doctors office the day after a holiday. I'm willing to bet people will be sicker than usual and they will not be happy when I tell them their doctor probably can't see them until February. I will have to be extremely patient and sympathetic and it is going to be great. I have been a complete turd since I got off work on Wednesday. Not only have I not worked out even once, but I have had a large amount of ice cream and coke in these past few days. Starting tomorrow, I am starting my fast once again, and back to the gym I go. I feel like I am losing my credibility with whoever I tell about my fast, but I'm serious this time. No more sweets.

Thanksgiving at the Rice house actually turned out to be quite nice. I slept until close to 3:00 p.m. and had about two more hours of daylight when I got out of bed. Aaron and I went to the store and bought stuff to make hamburgers and then we grilled out, just the two of us. Our Thanksgiving hamburgers were awesome. Aaron put peppers, onions, chives, and cheese in the beef and it was perfection. I was asleep by 9:00, which meant I was awake for all of six hours.

On Friday we watched the Bulldogs get bulldozed with Austin, a Texan who has been Aaron and Ryan's best friend for six years now. Austin drove to Oxpatch from Starkpatch to hang out with us and we had a good time.

"A rose between two thorns," as Aaron always says.

This is Leon, the entertainment for the evening. He is 86 years old.

Today, I entered into Christmas mode and couldn't stop. We put up our Christmas tree and pulled out all the decor and watched one of my all time favorite shows, Americas Funniest Videos. I love watching people fall down and get hurt. AFV is slapstick comedy at its finest. This is our Christmas tree.

And probably more than anything in the whole world, I have been looking forward to hanging stockings on our fireplace. When we found this house back in April and there wasn't even a fireplace in it yet, I imagined stockings hanging over a fire (even though it is just a gas fireplace). Well, tonight we went to Walmart and I found me, Aaron, and Jake some Christmas stockings. They are temporary, because I am going to spend next year finding the perfect stockings for us. So, in the meantime, this is what we have:


It just wouldn't be complete without Jake's stocking. I know it is nothing spectacular, but it is special to me, and in the long run, that is all that matters. This Christmas will be different in that I won't get to see that much family. I get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off of work, but I have to be back on Friday. This means I will be driving from Hattiesburg to Oxford (5 hour drive) on Christmas Day just so I can be at work on Friday. Then I have to decide if I want to make the drive again to Hattiesburg or Jackson or just stay home and enjoy the weekend with Jake. It will be impossible not getting spend a lot of time with family, especially my sweet niece Kate. Is this what it means to grow up? If so, I'd rather not. I've got to end this now so I can watch Kung Fu Panda with Aaron.