She walked around the room. Her hands held lightly behind her back. A warm, approving smile on her face. She was barefoot. Because it was the end of the day, at the end of the week, and her feet were tired from balancing in high heels on the playground and at afternoon pickup. Even still, she glided gracefully from one desk to the next, as only the Mrs. Demos could do, navigating a minefield of glue sticks, scissors, construction paper, and twenty children sprawled out on the floor.
She was like Tim Gunn in the workroom.
Now, even though it’s been a few years since we turned off our classroom lights for the last time, and we don’t have any contraction paper in our house right now, and Amy doesn’t go by Mrs. Demos on the daily anymore, that shouldn’t stop us from carrying on the tradition and creating a virtual wreath of everything we’re grateful for, right? Right! So, as we take today off from work to spend time with our families who see about as much of us as you do, here’s our list of 10 things we’re thankful for that we’ll be sharing around our table this Thanksgiving.
Our Thanksgiving Top 10
1. Our two-year-old cat, William Wallace, just started snuggling on the couch for the first time. Both of them are perpetual bed smugglers, but the ottoman at our feet had always been his jam when it came to the living room, and we couldn’t convince him otherwise. Then, we tricked him. By putting his favorite blanket on the couch. And everyone wins.
2. Adele. That’s it. Hello from the other siiide…
3. Okay, that’s not it. We’ve been listening to Broadway show tunes on repeat, especially when we’re working late at night. Les Miserables and Wicked, anyone? We’ve been soul-searching to Nashville in the quiet, morning moments, because every duet with Gunnar and Scarlett is money. in. the. bank. y’all! And to round out the top three, here’s the dark horse of this Spotify season: Justin — I can’t believe we’re saying this — Bieber. The Biebs himself. Yeah, we didn’t see that one coming either! But, you guys, his new album is GOOD!
4. Our beloved assistant got Jordan a coffee bean grinder and French Press for his birthday this year and every morning he springs out of bed to make two strong cups of dark roast coffee. He drinks his black as night. Amy’s resembles milk chocolate. And sometimes she puts a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it when Jordan’s not looking!
5. The weather and the jacuzzi. Two of our favorite words right now! With a few exceptions, it’s 70-degrees and sunny in the Scottsdale desert until March, which means it’s cool enough during the day (but not too cold at night!) for any-time-is-a-good-time jacuzzi outings. As long as we don’t have to small talk with anyone while we’re there! Shouldn’t there be a law against small-talking in jacuzzis or something? And airplanes! We need to write our congressman!
6. Decorating for Christmas! Last year was the first year ever that we didn’t because we’d just purchased the condo we were living in, had just started some minor renovations, and our house was a controlled chaos decorative war zone, and we promised ourselves that this year we’d do it right. So, tomorrow, it’s on!
7. Thanksgiving with both families. Again. Ever since our first Thanksgiving together ten years ago, we’ve always been able to coordinate the schedules to have lunch with one and dinner with another. Every year, for one reason or another, we think our streak’s coming to an end and we’re going to have to start splitting Thanksgivings, but when both families scheduled their meal for lunchtime this year, Jordan’s mom came to the rescue and changed to dinnertime. Crisis averted. Streak continued.
8. When you have two Thanksgivings in the same day, the key is to not eat the rolls at the first one. That’s what’ll kill you and keep you too full to eat the second meal. It’s a trick we’re thankful we learned a long time ago (which also happens to be the main plot of one of our favorite episodes of Gilmore Girls) so if you have two (or more!) Thanksgivings today, you’ll be thankful we told you!
9. A new front door lock and key. Seriously. For the past few months, our key’s been getting jammed in the lock and (on more than a few occasions) we couldn’t get in to our own house! So, we called Levi, the trusty locksmith in our area with the highest Yelp reviews, and he hooked us up with a lock and key that work so smoothly, we hesitate every time we open the front door (just for a second) and savor the sound of it like the driver of a new car. Ahhh… smooth…
10. We’re thankful for God, each other, family, friends (that includes you!) and this business. Because we’re nothing without those things, in that order, and we never, ever want to forget it.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends.
Want a second or third helping of Thanksgiving posts? Comin’ right up!
