I posted a photo of our new bird in the photo gallery!

Thanksgiving here was awesome. Nice and intimate, with just my hubby, kids, and mom. The food was great (if I say so myself) and for once, I managed to have all the food hot at the same time.

The kids and I got our Christmas stuff out and our tree up. It’s the first time I’ve been able to participate in that since three years ago. (First-of-year deadlines suck. Seriously. Although I must say I’m glad to have deadlines, period.) The kids still decorated the tree by themselves, though, and it came out gorgeous! The ornaments are perfectly spaced and spread out evenly in color. They did an awesome job! We swapped out the normal dinnerware with our holiday dinnerware and it’s certainly feeling like the holidays in my house, even though it’s still 70+ degrees out here.

I still need to take a picture of our new bird…

I’ve been stuck at a spot in my ms for a little bit now. I tried to push through it, but I couldn’t. I knew something was off, but I didn’t know what it was. I finally figured it out, much to my relief. Luckily, because I hadn’t struggled too far past the deviation point, it didn’t take a whole lot of work to get the story back on track. But it sure drove me nuts for far too many days. *smacks forehead*

I have some goodies planned for you. Starting on December 1st, I’ll be giving away a prize pack a day to one of the blog commenters. I have a box of books/promo items that I collected at various conferences/conventions over the last year and I’d like to give them away. I can’t say what you’ll win, but I have enough stuff here for a month’s worth of book/promo pack giveaways. Some hardcovers, some trades, some mass markets. Lots of paper promo stuff. All from various authors. Should be fun.

I hope your Monday rocks!