Relief.

Last night was, truly, wonderful. After the stress earlier in the day, once I bitched about it a bit, we were able to just motor on.

And it doesn’t hurt that my turkey, my very first turkey, was perfect! Not too dry, not too moist, but really, truly, perfect! I was so nervous about it I got Mr.Circus to carve it before people even arrived (bad form, I know). My plan was that if it turned out to be raw in the middle (somehow, I was convinced) then we could stick it all in the microwave before anyone saw my mess. But, happily, there was no need! Now our wishbone is drying in the kitchen and tomorrow there will be no evidence that a turkey was ever cooked in here. Yup, big eaters our friends, no left over turkey. Thank goodness my Dsquared pals brought over half a pig, because my 18lb turkey certainly would not have been enough.

And our decorating skills were appreciated as well. Every one complimented us on how festive and cozy our apartment looks.  I love my paper flower decorations and am thinking of keeping them year round (which was part of the reason that only two are Chrismassy colours and the rest are quite simply pretty).

6 bottles of wine, 30 cans of beer, 14lbs of mashed potatoes (okay, those we have copious amounts of leftovers in), 14 people, dozens of cookies, a nerf gun won in the secret santa, the guests mingling until 2:30 and a nice tingly feeling that we have hosted our first Christmas dinner. All in all, I don’t think I could have asked for anything more.

And speaking of feeling tingly and  sparkly and happy, I was on the receiving end of some oh so happy academic news this morning. It seems my classmates will be stuck with me for one last semester as I will not be taking the Dean’s Vacation. Yay!! As much as the idea of taking a break from exams and 8am classes and studying and essays was beginning to be nice, I really want to get this degree done and over with. So hooray, now I can finish up by spring and continue on with life as planned!

One last shift at work selling cards and toys and books and then I’m off for a few days of Christmas break. Almost there….

Turkey.

Today I am cooking a turkey. For the first time. And despite knowing that turkeys are easier to cook than everyone thinks, I’m a little nervous.
But the bird went in the oven five minutes ago. In 6 hours, we’ll know how it all went.
Friends will be gathered round our increasingly festive table drinking wine and nibbling on appies. And hopefully mouths will be watering because the apartment will smell like mom’s turkey.

*my favorite wreath, and yes, my kitchen rooster (for luck) in the corner*

*the paper flowers I mentioned earlier, hanging above the table as a floating center piece*

Closer.

Wedding plans have been slow, few and far between. But today we made an important step forward. We asked my Dad’s friend if he would marry us. And, delightfully, he agreed.

Really what we initially asked was how he felt about secrets. And most importantly, how is he at keeping them. Because in order for it to be possible for him to marry us, we actually have to be already married. Hence our city hall plans. But we’re not going to tell everyone (hello blog world, I’m sorry, but you don’t quite count as part of this ‘everyone’) until closer to the date.

But it was a great conversation. I always love telling people exactly why they are important to me, because I think everyone needs a little more of that, little snippets into how they are viewed by others. Especially when it’s the good stuff. And I got all goosebumpy when he said he felt honoured that we would ask him.

Truth be told, my lovely giant of a friend R was the first person I thought of, when I started picturing what that day would look like. He has played such an important role in my family over the past 10 or so years. It just makes sense, that he would participate in this new step for me.

Now, I feel excited and a little less stressed. Well, less wedding stress. Still the normal other stress.

Only a few days until Christmas gets here and I’m finally getting around to doing some Christmas crafts. I’m making paper flower ornaments that I found on How About Orange yesterday. I’m going to hang them from the ceiling above the table, similar to Mielle et Canelle’s snowflakes. (And how lovely that she found me here. I’ve read her blog here and there, and have thoroughly enjoyed her finds, her words and her pictures, but never realized that they belonged to this lovely lady.)

On Monday, CircusMan and I are hosting our Festivus dinner. Yup, I’m cooking a turkey for the first time. A beautiful 18 lb fresh young, air chilled bird. Tonight I craft, tomorrow I clean and Monday I cook.

Some of my favorite C’s.