It's begining to feel nothing like Christmas - Thanksgiving and beyond

Because it still gets to 80 degrees everyday here.  I AM NOT complaining about that though.  LOVE IT.
LOVE the warm, sunny and bright days.  The crisp cool nights and morning.  Love it.
One day last week the sky was cloudy until about 10:30 and I was so disappointed thinking I wouldn't see the sun at all that day.  I was trying to self talk myself into being glad for the diversity, look on the bright side of cloudiness.  When the sun was out by lunch time, I was so relieved :).

Going back in time, one last time (who am I kidding right?  This will probably always be a month behind)
THANKSGIVING - again beautiful weather was welcome.  My brother Joseph, his beautiful wife and one of my best friends Erin, and there awesome, darling, high energy kiddo's: Annalyn, Isaac, Max and baby Kayla, thought it was too hot.
We had the entire feast at 4:00.  Considering we started cooking at noon I think that is pretty good.  We dined on divinely candied yams, homemade cranberry sauce, two kinds, we even threw in a cooked vegetable, which mostly got ignored.  I made homemade rolls and since that only happens once every few years, I'm grateful they turned out decent.

The boys played a football game with the ward that morning.
Erin, Annalyn, Kayla and I went for a nice walk.
There was a little football watched, a little wii played.
There were blessings shared around the dinner table and food greatly enjoyed.
There was a store bought Costco pumpkin pie, a Toll-house pie, a chocolate cream and a cherry pie.  The cherry never did get eaten.
Oh yes, Seth and the cousins had a coconut cream pie for breakfast.  It was left-over from Seth bringing a pie to school the day before for "pie-day".  Pie-Day has more to do with math than thanksgiving.

It was a delightful day to be sure.

The stores sort of ruined the evening for me by starting Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving night, but it does make for a better nights sleep. 
James has been dreaming about how magical, intense, incredible, etc. Black Friday must be, for a year now, after hearing war stories from friends.  So I let he and Seth tag along, which is tricky while shopping for them.  Luckily they missed the insanity that is WalMart while holding our place in line at Target.  The secret items I had been hoping for at WalMart had been sold earlier than the add said, I will refrain from describing my disappointment.  Apparently I was the only one smart enough to look on the regular shelf, as opposed to the pallet they were sold on the hour before, and I found exactly three of "said item" waiting quietly for me to purchase them.
Then I sprinted to the Target line, to find my boys, just in the nick of time.  The fear of them being hurded into a Black Friday crowd without me to protect them, fueled my run.  I should mention the Target and Walmart were across the street from each other so it worked out perfectly.
When I arrived to our spot in line, they were already complaining.  Ha!
They helped Erin shop a little for her kids and after 15 minutes we were done there too.
Surprisingly Seth enjoyed the maze like dodging and maneuvering of shopping with thousands of people but sadly James was very let down and has no desire to accompany me again.

When Joseph and Erin said they could only stay 2 and 3/4 days, I was sure it would be more painful than happy to have them for such a short time because we would be so sad to see them go so soon.  I was proven wrong.  We loved every second and would take them for 3 hours if we could.  And any of you too. We were sad to see them go but so grateful for the family to share the holiday with.

We are now trying to focus our thoughts and hearts on Christmas.  And it's 80 degrees outside.
We laugh at the Christmas songs about snow now.
Our neighborhood looks like Who-Ville with all the decorations people put up here.  I think the lack of vegetation makes the lights more vivid or something.  And Blow-Ups, you know those parachute material, life-size, or beyond, blow-up with powered warm air thingies you see around.  Well this is like their "North Pole"  I didn't even know so many existed.  It's comical to me, and sweet.
I have always believed that it is because of the light of Christ in all men that spurs them to such enthusiasm for Christmas decorations.  More and more people do not understand why it is the most celebrated holiday in the year, but the origination cannot be denied.
We have zero blow-ups and not even a tree up yet.  Yikes.