#RespectTheTurkey or #RespectMyRightToBeHappy?

I hate the dark.

Movies and books and life and all of the things teach us that dark is bad. Bad things happen in the dark. Hope and joy are chased away by the corners of darkness. Light is better than dark.

It stands to reason that I hate Daylight Saving Time. I'm all for sunlight when I'm driving to work, but there's nothing sadder than not seeing your kid and the sun play together for days on end.

But, I found the silver lining. Years ago, I discovered that there is something that can chase away the harshness of the cold, dark winter. The sparkly lights and shiny baubles of Christmas decorations can make the darkness friendlier. They take the edge off and give me something to look forward to each year when I set those clocks back.

It's possible that I try a little bit harder than most to chase away the dark. See also: I have 12 Christmas trees. See also also: I would have the outside of our house more decorated than anything any Griswold could ever imagine, if only the electrical system in our house could handle it.

And if I had my way, I would have started decorating on November 1st.

I KNOW. I KNOW. I KNOW.

Every year I'm ashamed to admit that I want to start decorating as soon as the last trick-or-treaters have vanished into their homes. Every year I start out decorating deep inside the most hidden corners of our house and don't dare let anyone know what is going on. Every year I hang my head low because I KNOW. I know how everyone feels about Christmas decorations in November.

I see the thoughts posted all over social media. RESPECT THE TURKEY, you say.

Some of the comments are ... vicious. Mean. Cruel.

I get it. Sort of. I get that you want to give Thanksgiving the credit it deserves.

But ... just because you need a month set aside just for the purposes of being thankful doesn't mean that I do. If I go a week without telling someone that I appreciate them or that I am thankful they are around or something along those lines, I feel like I've failed. Thanksgiving is a time for being with family for me. Thankful is all of the time.

So. I don't need to decorate for Thanksgiving. I can be thankful without plastic turkeys all around. I don't need pumpkins on my porch to remind me to be thankful. I don't even need vividly covered leaves to keep it all in perspective. I like my Thanksgiving to be adorned with sparkly lights and shiny baubles, thank you very much.

Does that mean I don't respect Thanksgiving or don't respect the turkey?

Nope.

It means I like pretty things that brighten the darkness. I like to those pretty things for more than just a couple of weeks.

I like to cut into the dark with some light of my own for as long as I can.

So, if you don't mind, please excuse me while I decorate my trees and bring light to these nights filled with dark. There are only 24 hours in a day, and I would like to spend this one doing things that make me happy.

I only hope you will choose your one hour doing something that makes you happy instead of telling me that I'm a terrible person for already having a Christmas tree in my dining room.

Turkey Cupcakes

Earlier this week, I did the Up Way Too Late Making Cupcakes for School thing. I lucked my way into supplying treats for Alexis' school Halloween party. Owls were on the agenda, but then I forgot to take a picture of the owl cupcakes because of course I did.

Trust me. They were cute.

But as I was making 22 of the little suckers, it dawned on me that the tools I was using to make owls would work really well to make turkeys. So, today Alexis and I made Turkey Cupcakes for no other reason than because we could.

Alexis made that one. She rocks.

These are fun in an assembly line sort of way, and in a just let the kid do it herself sort of way. I did the cutting, but then Alexis do all of the decorating. She thought it was FANTASTIC. And easy.

First of all, you need all of this stuff.

Vienna Fingers, Mini Oreos, candy corn, and turkey-colored frosting. Oh, and cupcakes. You need some of those, too.

The first step is to cut the Vienna Fingers at the first set of holes.

A serrated knife works well.

Then split the Vienna Fingers. You only need one half per cupcake. While you're at it, split the mini Oreos as well. Oh, and while you're cutting and twisting and such, make the candy corn a little smaller.

Then, use the frosting to make "turkey feathers."

Perfection is for people who can't just have fun while making cupcakes.

Slap that half Vienna Finger in the middle of the "feathers."

And give it some Oreo eyeballs using frosting to "glue" things in place.

Use some white frosting to make the eyes look a little better.

A dot of brown frosting completes the eyes. A gob of red frosting makes the gobble.

Gobble gobble.

Plop the candy corn beak on there and you're all done.

So much sugar, so little time.

Decorating 12 of these took Alexis about 30 minutes. It was a very quiet 30 minutes. VERY quiet.

Turkey Cupcakes are my new favorite thing, obviously.

Seal Team Kiara