What are you Thankful for?

Day 26 of the Blog a Day. What are you thankful for? I mean that's the whole point of Thanksgiving right? We give thanks. I am thankful to all the friends and family I am lucky enough to have. I really do have some of the best people anyone could ask for in their lives. I regret that my entire family cannot be together all the time, but I am transient in nature and truly believe that family is what you make of it. Whomever you are with, make them family. Or, love the one's your with. Happy Thanksgiving.

Black Friday, Wednesday, Monday, Weekend?

Day 25 of the Blog a Day. When did a major shopping day turn into a major shopping week? Black Friday is no longer known as the day after Thanksgiving or the busiest shopping day of the year. The economy is bad, people are out of work and the recession has been strong. There is hope on the horizon, they say the recession is over. That means that according to experts people will not be holding onto their money as much this year because they expect to be keeping their jobs or finding new ones soon. But greed is setting in. Stores know that people are looking for deals and even though Black Friday is popular, it's also a mad house. People have died outside of Walmarts waiting for the doors to open or by being trampled when they do. And with E-Commerce being more popular then ever, why go to the brick and mortar stores, when you can roll out of bed and check your email to make a purchase. So now you see deals for Late Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, early Friday morning, early Saturday, and even Cyber Monday for all of you internet shoppers. Of course if your like me you have been broke for the last couple of years and Black Friday don't mean shit when your trying to make rent a week later.

T-Day Success!

Day 22 of the Blog a Day, and I can report that the Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving party was a success. It was really an odd mix of friends this year. Not in a bad way. My roommates Matt and Cindy had their friends, who I have come to know over the years. And my roommate Christin had her friends who I have come to know the last few months. Only a few of my actual friends showed up, but everyone had something going on. The turkey turned out phenomenal. Everyone brought something to share, and everyone WAY over ate. We even ended up watching Star Trek at the end of the evening. All in all a great success and a lot of fun. Can't wait for next year, mark your calendars. Oh and of course the ACTUAL Thanksgiving is this Thursday. Sweet.

Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving

Day 21 of the Blog a Day leads me to party ideas. By no means do I claim this to be an original idea, I must have heard of it somewhere, but a few years ago my desire for more great T-Day food and the need to throw a good party converged into The Annual Thanksgiving Before Thanksgiving party. Let me give you some backstory.

When I was kid growing up, my Mom was a single parent and all of our family lived in Los Angeles and San Bernadino. So every year at the Holidays my Mom and I would drive through Southern California. She later married my step dad and we introduced his family tradition of driving to his Dad's house in La Jolla for Thanksgiving. But by the time my Mom and Dad decided to stop driving for Thanksgiving I was old enough to decide for myself that I wanted to drive to my Cousin's or my Aunt's house in LA. But growing up I never spent time at home with my friends. Thus the Thanksgiving Before Thanksgiving party was born. It allowed me to have a party with friends the Sunday before Thanksgiving Thursday. Something local in town, where everyone young and old could come and eat great food and maybe get drunk. Plus I had a Turkey Deep Fryer I wanted to try out, and you can't cook a big Turkey for 3 people. Well it's been two years since the last party, which was a 3 year tradition before that. The party is back, and this year I am baking a Turkey for the first time. Tonight I am creating my own recipe for Cranberry Relish that I hope turns out. Tomorrow morning the roommates and I are getting breakfast together and then the bird goes in the oven. Chargers vs. Broncos at 1:15pm and people start arriving around 4. Should be fun. Cheers to traditions!