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1. Our Thanksgiving last week was just wonderful. We loved having a houseful of people, and all of the food turned out fantastic. I’d say that our first holiday was a rousing success!

2. My Chief Culinary Consultant and I went out on Black Friday and bought our very first Christmas tree!! It’s an enormous 9-foot Alpine tree with 1,500 lights, and we just love it. There’s nothing like sitting in the glow of Christmas lights, am I right?

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3. This little guy is being neutered today, so fingers crossed that everything goes A-OK. I’m sure he’ll be up and biting everything in sight in no time ;-)

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4. He and Einstein are working on sharing… Einstein will take possession of a toy, hang it out of his mouth, and allow Duke to chew on the end. These two kill me!

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5. Have you started any Christmas baking yet? What are you making? My mom and I made a list off the top of our heads and had well over 10 items, and I’ve already thought of at least 5 more things that I need to add to the list. I can never get enough of Christmas goodies!

6. I ordered this Kate Spade mug for myself this week, thanks to seeing it featured on RecipeGirl’s latest post. Seriously, how awesome is this?!

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7. I have not been playing nearly enough Christmas music yet; I need to remedy that. I also need to get some Christmas movies on my TV. What are your favorites? I love National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, Rudolph, the Muppet Christmas… I could sit all day curled up in a blanket with an endless supply of hot chocolate and marshmallows and watch Christmas movies on an endless loop.

8. I have gone off the deep-end and decided to go on an all fruits/veggies/brown rice/lean protein eating plan for 21 days. That means cutting out refined sugar, flour, processed anything, caffeine, etc. I chose to do it after feeling like crap for a couple of months now and needing to jumpstart myself into better eating habits. I thought the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas would be a good time to do it, plus I’ve heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. I’m still sampling one piece of everything that comes out of my kitchen, but aside from that, I have been doing well since Monday. I’m withholding judgement until I see how things go, but I’ll definitely let you know how it turns out!

9. We’re right in the middle of the annual 12 Days of Giveaways, so be sure to check BEB each week day for a new giveaway! Right now, you can enter to win a Keurig Platinum Brewing System or Fiestaware Baking Bowl and Prep Bowl Sets. Get your entries in!

10. TGIF! I think we’ll be seeing a lot of puppy snuggles this weekend!

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