What have I gotten myself into?

It started out with a cheeky idea: instead of letting Zi use my oven to cook her Thanksgiving turkey (since hers is too small), why not just have the whole Thanksgiving shebang at my apartment? It has since grown into what can only be described as a community event. My family (mother, brother & gf, aunt, grandfather), Zi and her parents (and I would assume & hope Monette), and Teh BF's parents (and possibly one or more of his siblings). Forget a turkey, I'm going to need a damn emu.

But you know what? I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. It's going to require quite a lot of planning and preparation, and I don't mean only the food. Teh BF's parents will be staying in our guest bedroom (I love that we have one of those, btw), and I'll have to make sure there will be enough places for something like 20 people to sit, eat, and socialize comfortably. My mother is finally going to meet Teh BF's parents. And Zi's parents. I will also, at some point that week/end, introduce my father to Teh BF's parents. It's going to be... interesting.

Usually at about this time of the year, plans for the last 3-5 months of the year tend to materialize. I've been invited to travel to the Nashville area for Christmas with Teh BF's parents. Considering that my mother still reminds me of the year I "abandoned [her] at Christmas" because I had dinner with my then-boyfriend's parents in addition to having dinner with my family, I can't imagine this is going to go off smoothly. Well, I can *imagine* it will, but it's really not going to happen that way. I'm going through with it anyway.

I feel that it's time I set a precedent vis a vis sharing holidays with two sets of families. I am aware that in my childhood there was a definite heirarchy of families (links to an old entry in this journal); in my adult life I intend to discontinue that behavior. As a step in that direction, I'm taking the reigns this holiday season. Thanksgiving is going to be as stress-free as I can possibly make it, and Christmas is going to be completely different. I've been saying for several years now that things need to change... this year they're going to!

I'd say I can hardly wait, but... yeah. Holidays (:::shudder:::).

Tags: adventure, bhu, christmas, holidays, teh bf, thanksgiving, the fam, z
current location: blue house up
current mood: is that optimism, or naivete?

So what did I do last weekend, you ask? I'm sure you've all heard about the fucktons of snow we got here in fair Ohio. Well, ariez111, stardiver, nychus and I (and Teh BF & the wrench*) spent Saturday decidedly NOT at the Cleveland International Film Festval as we'd planned. We instead spent the day variously trekking back & forth across the street between Z's and my places (gathering food & drink), shoveling snow (and then shoveling some more snow), playing Wii (and other games), watching movies (in PJ pants - pajamajam!), and getting completely schnockered (*ahem*).

Some photos can be seen here and here. I also have a handful of snapshots; they remain uselessly trapped inside my camera until I can find the cable & software (misplaced in the move!) to get them out.

Good times.

( * )

Tags: adventure, bhu, friends, mo, nychus, teh bf, z
current location: blue house up
current mood: content

I finally made it out to the National Park this weekend to do some snowshoeing! I'd been wanting to do this for several years, but somehow always missed either the rental dates or the appropriate weather. But Sunday it all came together - Z, HMC, and I trekked out to Boston Hts, belted our feet to these funky contraptions, and then hiked for a couple of miles across the snow. Good times!

You can see Z's photos here.

And here are mine:

Snowshoeing!

Tags: adventure, hmc, mom's house, the park, z
current location: mom's house
current mood: accomplished