Stealing the Family Christmas Tree

What!? Stealing a Christmas tree??? More on that in a minute…

First, I hope everyone’s Friday is truckin’ along nicely.

Fridays seem to draaaag or fly by for me. Today is a fly by kinda day, though I hesitate to say this because time will now inevitably stop. 😉

How’s your Friday going? Fast or s-l–o-w?

Lunchtime came quick and I was really looking forward to my leftover pasta dish.

I omitted the goat cheese (mainly because I forgot to add it in before I left my apartment), so my noodle bowl included:

• Carba Nada roasted garlic fettuccine noodles
• Tomato basil marinara
• Sauteed spinach
• Sauteed mushrooms
• Parmesan cheese

Isn’t is crazy how a truckload of fresh spinach yields a teeny-weenie amount of cooked spinach? It’s like magic. I even made Ryan watch the spinach cooking process and he was amazed (or did a good job humoring me and pretending to be amazed, which is probably more likely).

This lunch was good! I love eating foods I typically eat for dinner for lunch. It feels so indulgent. I also love breakfast for dinner. I crave sweet stuff in the morning, so salty eggs and buttery toast sound much better later in the day.

Tonight I will be cooking dinner for the whole fam. My mom has an appointment so she will not be home to cook dinner and I jumped at the opportunity to play chef! I’m not sure what’s on the menu but I gave her these ideas and told her to pick one:

• Roasted chicken with lemons and thyme
• BBQ meatloaf (yes, the BBQ meatloaf)
• Salmon
• Spaghetti squash with mushrooms, zucchini and squash

Which one would you pick?

I’m leaning toward the chicken, but I’m not sure if time constraints will permit that selection since we may be getting our family Christmas tree tonight! Woop, woop!

Stealing Our Christmas Tree

Going out to purchase our family Christmas tree is always a fun event because the entire time we hound my mom, asking if she’s going to steal a tree again this year.

Again you may be thinking… yes, again. A few years ago we went to Publix (a grocery store in the southeast) to pick up a tree. While my dad was talking with the tree guys, my mom, sister and I ran into the store to pick up some things for dinner.

When we came out my dad had the tree all loaded up, so we hopped in the van and headed home. Naturally we assumed my dad paid for the tree. Well apparently you’re supposed to pay inside, so imagine my mom’s surprise when my dad asked her how much the tree was.

“What!?” my mom said.  “You didn’t pay for it? I thought you paid for it before you loaded it on the car!”

Every Christmas since then we’ve berated my mom about stealing our family Christmas tree – the symbol of giving, caring, Jesus and generosity that sits in our living room.

(Note: My mom ended up going back to Publix and making a donation to ease her guilty conscious. She’s a good woman..)