There are things you just don’t do.
You don’t skip the fireworks on the Fourth of July.
You don’t eat ice cream when it snows.
You don’t forget to pick up your kids after school.
And you just don’t decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving.
I think Target had decorated for Christmas before it was even Halloween this year. I can’t stand it. I like to eat my Turkey dinner, take a long nap, eat some leftovers and pie then go to bed early so I can wake up in time for some great Black Friday Shopping, after which you eat seven turkey sandwiches, a little leftover jello, take a nap and THEN put up your Christmas Tree.
It’s all about traditions, don’t you know, like a tradition code of ethics. Somethings you do and somethings you just don’t. I think putting up your tree before the Turkey Feast is just horror, oh the horror! So, look what I did before Thanksgiving this year:

I had good excuses, really I did. It was a free Saturday and there was a willing husband with a truck ready to get our ridiculous amount of Christmas goods out of the storage garage. Plus, the next 3 Saturdays already had events going on and for crying out loud, I wasn’t going to wait until the week of Christmas to put up my tree because honestly, that’s pretty much against my code of ethics and a big fat waste of my time. If you put up your tree on Christmas Eve, I think you’re CRAZY.
By Monday night, our tree was all beauteous with the boxes all put back in the garage and Tuesday morning we drove out to Arizona for a family gathering around the turkey. The best part? Coming home and having all the decorating done and cleaned up! As much as it disturbs me, I think I may have to change my code.
Now…..on to some Homemade Holiday updates!
Since the tree is all decorated and I have nothing but time on my hands (am I the only one laughing at the irony?) I’ve pulled out the sewing machine and bins of fabric to get some of those Homemade Holiday projects completed. If I would just wait to sew when the babies are in bed, I probably could be finished with everything, but instead, it takes me 8 hours just to cut fabric because I’m helping little hands stay off my dang tree all day. Crap, why did I put a tree up with 2 two year olds in the house?
Anyways, today I made some of those crayon cozies and they were SUPER easy and SUPER fast. Look how fun:


I used scraps of fabric made from previous projects to make it. It really is only 3 strips of fabric all sewn up in a rectangle. Very simple. With no little kids (or let’s face it, husbands or your cell phone) in the house, you could bust this out in less than an hour.
And last but not least, a bit of Lemon Yumminess…
I crave anything citrus lately. I think I ate an entire box of 45 clementines by myself last week. The week before that I was craving a lemon chicken dish that Dana had brought to me.
It’s so delish that I thought I’d share it with you and URGE you nicely to make it for dinner this week. It’s fast, it’s easy and even your little kids will like it. I serve mine over rice with a side of garlic and lemon asparagus. Mmm-mmm-mmm.
Here you go: Rachel Ray’s Lemon Chicken.








