November 2016: In a Nutshell.

Thanksgiving 2016

We’re in the final stretch, everyone! December is here- and that means Christmas is right around the corner and 2016 is nearly over! We’re almost to 2017!

I fully intend to finish the last of my holiday shopping within the next couple of weeks so I can actually enjoy Christmas this year and not have to worry myself with finding gifts, facing large crowds of people at the stores (or paying extra for in-time-for-Christmas shipping costs with my online orders) wrapping them to deliver, or mailing them if necessary- so on and so forth. I really just want this last month of the year to be as relaxing and as stress-free as possible. I don’t think I’m asking for much, right?

But I digress. Before we can get into the full-swing of December and Christmas- we have to talk about the month of November, first- and it was quite the circus, wasn’t it? Between the election (and I won’t even start on the fact that the results are now being reviewed/investigated in certain states since that’s a whole new can of worms I don’t have the patience to open right now), the subsequent protests, feuds and overall continued division within this country- it all seemed to sort of overshadow the rest of November- including Thanksgiving. I know a lot of people can and usually do have some sort of tension at family gatherings due to differing political opinions- but this year the tension was multiplied considerably for a lot of my friends who spent this past weekend with their extended relatives whom they don’t always see eye to eye with even when politics are taken out of the equation.

Thankfully, I managed to escape that most dreaded of family traditions all together. We didn’t talk politics at dinner- that was the one rule in the house- and instead we all gathered around to watch football and a couple of the Christmas movies the networks had already started to air before the night came to a close and some of my family had to prepare for their Black Friday shopping. I’m happy to report that no one got trampled this year- and my mom was really excited that she picked up a brand new toaster for a pretty good price- so it was a win, I think?

The election and Thanksgiving aside- November was a pretty busy month anyway. My hours at work were recently adjusted- meaning that I have my weekends off again for the first time in nearly a year- which is really exciting! I rounded out the 2016 Comic-Con season by meeting the amazing Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Providence (and to confirm in case I didn’t mention it in my original RICC post- yes, he’s very handsome in person), I watched the Cubs win The World Series in one of the most intense and satisfying games imaginable, and not that it impacted my schedule in any way- but it is worth noting we had our first very light snow this month, too!

I’m looking forward to sharing a couple more recipes over the next month, some of my favorite holiday activities and local destinations to visit in order to get into (and stay in) the Christmas spirit- and of course I’ll be summarizing 2016 in it’s entirety before we head into 2017. It’s going to be a long one- I can tell you that.

See you all in December!