"Can't be hateful, gotta be grateful, mashed potatoes on my table."

Tonight, when the clock strikes 8, my Thanksgiving vacation will officially begin.

I will spend three days with my family…more importantly, I will spend three days with my baby niece, LC, who resembles me not only in adorable cuteness, but also in bewildering intelligence, delightful sense of humor, and an innate ability to cause all who come into the briefest contact with her to not only love her, but declare that they would be willing to lay down their lives - and more importantly, their fortunes - for her.

She has Kris' laugh, though. Hopefully this will not cause her too much pain when she grows and realizes that she did not inherit the true power of my magnetism. Let us not speak of it to her… Let us allow her to grow up as innocently and blissfully unaware of this tragedy as we can.

Anyway! Even though I just spent multiple days with my entire family and my baby brother will not be in attendance this holiday, I'm still pretty damn excited. I don't really have a favorite holiday - Halloween would be up there, I also really love Christmas, and Thanksgiving is like a preview of Christmas, and I feel like President's Day just does not get its due, and Fourth of July is always fun, so I don't like to favor one holiday over the other because I don't want to hurt another holiday's feelings. If I'm really honest, though, I guess I would have to say that my birthday is my favorite holiday, because it's like Christmas, only everyone is worshipping me instead of that boring baby (he just lies there, year after year, in some animal trough. It's like, big deal. You were born. In a barn. Welcome to Olden Tymes, everyone.)

But back to the point: Even though it's not my "favorite" holiday, I still like Thanksgiving because it's a chance to hang out at my family's house and drink lots of wine with my sister-in-law Becky and watch epic movies like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Hunger Games. I once had a boyfriend come to my house for Thanksgiving, and I remember warning him that, when it came to holidays, we were a pretty laid back family…basically all we do is eat, drink, and lay around watching movies (but we're doing it together, which makes it meaningful, see?). We don't really do the thing where we go out and toss the football around, or play games together (okay. The rest of my family will occasionally play games or cards together. I choose to sit this out as a declaration of my independence, and also because I find that stuff super boring). But it's fun, and it's relaxing, and now with a little baby in the mix, it will be even more entertaining.

I also feel the need to make the yearly declaration that, starting tonight at 8:00, it will officially be the season of me playing this, over and over.



That's right, kids. Welcome to an Amber Colored Holiday Season.