Well, Thanksgiving break is officially over and hell has begun. Can hell begin? I don't know.

In general, the break was nice. It felt good to be home and see my family for a while. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together because I had a lot of work to do. We certainly didn't get to crack open our brand spanking-new edition of Trivial Pursuit because I was too busy, but I'm sure we'll get to that over winter break. 2 weeks and counting...

Thanksgiving dinner was very good, though...as usual. My mom, after watching 16 non-stop hours of the Food Network last weekend, was inspired to try some new and unusual dishes, so it was an experimental feast. Her chipotle yams and sage butter turkey were both big hits and my "hazlenut-laced chocolate apricot" bread wasn't too shabby either, if I do say so myself -- the recipe book actually said "hazlenut-laced." The only bad thing about Thanksgiving was, once again, my loser "what I'm thankful for" speech. No joke, this happens EVERY year because I'm such a sap. I always have this eloquent, sophisticated, sincere speech thought out about how thankful I am for all of the wonderful blessings and opportunities in my life. However, once the speeches get started, you know I get that lump in my throat and the burning in my eyes. I don't know why I get so sappy and emotional at Thanksgiving, but not ONCE in my life have I been able to squeak out a half-way decent 20 seconds of thankfulness. It doesn't help much either that every year I have to follow my sister's thoughtful and moving speeches about how blessed she is. Damnit. This year, I choked up so badly (for absolutely no reason), she actually had to interject with a "that's nice, Son" just to take the spotlight off of my teary-eyed sorry ass. Pitiful, I tell you. Anyhow, besides that, the food was good and naturally, I have days of left-overs stocked up in my fridge for this week. Gotta love Thanksgiving. The roast beast was exceptionally good this year :) I wouldn't mind having it again for Christmas!

Anyways, I should get back to work. I'm looking forward to a pretty challenging week, but Josh's 22nd birthday is on Thursday, so we'll have some fun. It's gonna be a long two weeks, but I can make it...with some Diet Coke and lots of chocolate. Catch ya on the flip side.