This happens every year when November hits. I get completely lost in the bustle of birthdays, holidays and life. November is a joyous month with Lila’s birthday, Luke’s birthday and hosting Thanksgiving (four years in a row now), but it’s also a stressful one. Throw in a move and a vacation on top of all we normally have going on and I have officially been running a thousand miles a minute.

Some of the good times we had in what is always the craziest month of the year for us…

My main man had a birthday. I always have intentions of writing a sweet post to Luke for his birthday, but then it falls on Thanksgiving and I’m hosting 20 people and WHERE IS MY TURKEY BASTER??! You get the idea. At least I got around to baking his annual cheesecake. This year is was salted caramel chocolate, and it was the best one I’ve made yet!

Poor guy did have to share his cheesecake with our Thanksgiving group, which included family from my Dad’s side. It was pretty sweet when my grandpa said “I woke up this morning and thought of you. I thought, how is she going to pull this off??” Just two weeks after our move, it was a bold decision to host Thanksgiving, but one that was made easy by having guests who brought nearly everything.

The next day, Luke’s parents came to our house to help us get our Christmas tree and decorations up. 

The church across the street from us sells Christmas trees, so it couldn’t have been more convenient. We ended up getting a “Charlie Brown” tree because I couldn’t resist the sign that said “every tree deserves a home” next to them. Plus, our house needs a tree with character, right?

The next day we packed up and went to Naples, Fl for a week of “vacation.” I have it in quotation marks because we were both still working full time. It’s pretty awesome to have jobs where we work remotely. While it wasn’t as relaxing as real vacation, it was much nicer to work sitting in the sun than in cold Ohio.

Wrapping up our whirlwind month, this weekend we went to Salem, MA for my cousin Clara’s wedding. Lila went to Indiana to hang with Luke’s parents. Salem is a super cool town with a lot of history, character and charm. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re near Boston.

Now we are all home and regrouping before Christmas. Lila has been sleeping like crazy while I do laundry, wrap presents and get our house in order. Next week the Christmas fun begins!