Dear Cincinnati,
I don’t know if you are aware of this, so I thought I would point it out to you. Today is November 13. While I appreciate your holiday spirit and decorating enthusiasm, and while I’m sure that giant Christmas tree you are loading into Fountain Square today is pretty fabulous, I have to ask, why is it here NOW? Do you realize you are forgetting about an awesome holiday? Thanksgiving is 12 days away, it’s still like 65 degrees out, and I haven’t seen a single turkey, pilgrim, Indian or cornucopia cutout being hoisted into Fountain Square yet. I have, however, seen ample Christmas sales and Santa and garland decorations in the malls since November 1. I love Thanksgiving and I’m a little miffed that it is being skipped. We are blessed with an entire holiday to devote to appreciation and being thankful and we can’t even be thankful for that! We get a whole month of Christmas joy starting December 1st (ahem). So cool your jingle bells, have a piece of pumpkin pie and get into the Thanksgiving mood Here, I’ll help you:
Sincerely,
Lara
Today we did NOT cut down our Christmas Tree at a farm or merrily unpack our stockings and ornaments like many people I know. Why? Because it’s still November, that’s why. Instead, we filled our day with decidedly autumn activities. We finished hauling multiple truck loads of raked leaves over to B-Zak Landscaping and we received a visit from the Culligan man this afternoon to test our water and set us up with a water softener rental so our dry skin can get a little relief. I went to the library and rented the movies Across the Universe and Annapolis. I hear they’re both very good. Also spent the morning washing our sheets and comforter and kitchen linens and tablecloth while Ted worked Evita tech at UC this morning.
After dropping off the leaves we headed to Home Depot (are you counting? That’s 4 times this week. Do we win a prize?) and picked up a shovel, firewood and landscaping rocks to build our backyard firepit. Wanna see? Start with a backyard. 
Clear a 4 ft. circle of the top layer of grass using your brand new shovel. Don’t worry Mr. Fireman, the pit will only be 3 ft. in diameter as Anderson Township fire code dictates. And no brush burning! We are up-to-code citizens.
Dig out the sides of the circle to start making a pit and use the extra dirt and grass to fill in the multiple ankle-twisting holes in your backyard. Smile at the genius of it all. Start laying rocks firmly into the dirt. Fill in the gaps between rocks with dirt so the stones sink a bit and then dig out the center to create a pit for the wood.
Marvel at your handsome firepit and be sure to take many pictures of your hard work. Add firewood. Repeat marveling and photo taking. Take out firewood because it’s going to rain tonight and postpone your late-night s’mores and weinie roast to another night. Now, I know it looks like I did nothing here since all the pictures are of Ted doing the labor. Not true my friends. I took pictures but I also shoveled, dug dirt, laid rocks and filled in holes. But he did most of the hard work ;-) I forgot to mention yesterday that Ted also put down the runner in the basement, started placing empty boxes under the basement stairs for storage and began setting up our electronics in the living room (while I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner!). Love him!
Tonight we are going to a Newlyweds Dinner at the Catholic parish down the road. There is going to be an author and guest speaker there talking about his book and “what I wish I knew during the first five years of marriage.” Should be interesting – and free dinner! Have a great Saturday evening everyone.
