How could this be possible?

We don't have turkey on Thanksgiving. In fact, we don't eat poultry of any kind on this day. We had pizza. Jack's pizza, to be more specific. We're not Thanksgiving humbugs or anything; however, the many members of our family (and sometimes even us) usually have to work on Turkey Day every year. So instead of rushing around like heads with our turkeys cut off, fighting traffic and closed stores and last minute "I forgot to get butter!!" emergencies, we hold our Trypto-phan Club meeting on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.

So why then so I feel like I've ingested about 23.8 pounds of turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, breads, cranberries, pies, ciders, and anything else we decide to bring to our thankful table?!?! How did this happen? Is it psychological? Am I having sympathy sleepies for everyone else who's celebrating today? Does tryptophan actually travel through the air and I'm inhaling the tiring scents from all my neighbors' homes?

I'm drinking gallons of water in the hopes that it will flush the "tryptophan" from my system. Meanwhile, my mind is rushing about with thoughts of cookie-making. Yes, I'm talking about the annual cookie exchange at work. Many companies have them. This is the first year for mine, however, and impressions need to be made. Hearts need to be won. Mouths need to drop open in awe of my goodies. I thought of making my infamous fudge, albeit not an actual "cookie"; it does, however, get awfully gooey when not refrigerated, and that's not cool at work. And I don't want to do typical Christmas cut-outs decorated with sprinkles and beads and red hots and icings. So what do I do? I wait until the last minute to decide, and now I'm faced with the idea of baking dozens of cookies...tonight. I have a recipe in mind though, and the butter's heading towards room temperature as I type.

It actually flurried a bit today. None of it stuck at all, but that's okay with me at this point in the year. Last year at about this time, we had an ice storm to beat all ice storms in the St. Louis area, literally shutting entire cities down, causing loss of electricity (and heat and appliances and food stored in the fridges and freezers of almost everyone I know) for days on end. That being said, it sure was one of the most beautiful things to see...the trees covered in crystal shawls, icicles longer than my children are tall hanging off the front porch. If it hadn't caused so much destruction, it would have been wonderful. Now I'm not saying I wish it to happen again; snow flurries are great compared to that.

Alright...to end the day, I'd like to share a really cute idea that I got from a magazine this month. For those of you with rug rats crawling around and empty baby food jars out the wazoo, why not turn them into cute little gifts? Take a clean baby food jar, fill it with peppermint or spearmint candies, then hot glue a red or green cupcake liner to the lid and another mint to the top! What a cute idea!

Alright everyone. If you're not napping, take one now. If you've been napping, get up and make yourself a leftover turkey and stuffing sandwich. If you're just sitting down to turkey day dinner, enjoy it thoroughly, and have some white meat and pumpkin pie for me, to tide me over until my holiday celebration two days from now. And in return, I'll eat some white meat and pumpkin pie for you then!

Gobble gobble! Happy Turkey Day folks! Give thanks for all you have!