Ok, so I didn't make it to the gym..

but I *did* hit the library with my eldest daughter.  Books were obtained, in copious quantities.  T'is the way that a good library trip should be.   I'm re-reading "Crow Lake" by Mary Lawson (a fellow Canadian!) for my December book club meeting, and I happened upon "The Saffron Kitchen", which intrigued me with it's storyline  - moving from drizzly, London streets to the intrigue of Iran.    Interestingly, both books are their author's first novels.  Crow Lake is an incredible book - I remember being blown away when I first read it back in 2003, thinking "This is her FIRST book??".   Incidentally, Lawson's second book - "The Other Side of the Bridge" - is also excellent.   I'm continually impressed by these writers who come off the starting blocks so strongly.

We then darkened the doors of our biggest local Shopping Mall, something you would  N O T  find me doing of my own volition - it was my girl's big request for her Thanksgiving Break - - wander the Mall.  You know, we had a *really* good time.  It was just she and I (my youngest chose to stay at home with her Daddy);  we bought a Peppermint Mocha to share (yeah, I'm *that* kind of mother), smelled every candle in the Yankee Candle store.  She chose Sparkling Cinnamon and White Linen votives, and gave me the BIGGEST hug.   I love how she appreciates the small things in life, the "little splurges", to quote Gretchen Rubin.   We spent a long time in the Claire's accessory store.  That's a tween-y Candyland, I tell you.   We giggled at the creepy looking Mall Santa, and how horrified e.v.e.r.y baby/toddler that was placed in his lap was.   I tried to convince her to wait in line, sit angelically on his knee and then - just as they snap the photo - put ol' Beardy in a headlock, but she showed greater maturity than I and declined.

Oh, and we went into some kind of stinky shower soap store - - Bath and Body Works, probably.   PSA #1 for today - - Gingerbread Hand Sanitizer?  NOT a pleasant aroma to have on your hands.

We're staying home for Thanksgiving.  I wasn't planning on making a big dinner, but kind of got swept up in the holiday cheer last night when I went out to the grocery store to pick up some cold remedy for our youngest daughter.  Ok, so I'm *not* baking the pies, but we're having homemade cranberry sauce and stuffing, rosemary-garlic potato wedges and - for the FIRST time since I became a vegetarian 13 years ago - a Tofurkey!  It was there.  It was relatively inexpensive and, most importantly, my eldest had said after hearing a story on NPR yesterday "Hey, I'd like to try Tofurkey some day!".   Well, m'dear, try it you shall!   Oh, and pie.  Pumpkin and apple.     The weather is cooperating today, bringing us cooler temperatures and cloudy skies.  It feels like a good day to be inside making yummy food and playing a board game, watching a movie - just enjoying being at home and together.

How are you spending your Thanksgiving?  May it be a happy day and may you be mindful of your many blessings.