For the first time in probably 15 years I did not host Thanksgiving at our families home. My Mom and Dad hosted, we had great food, a fun time playing games after dinner, and a mess that was not at our house.

Usually, I love hosting all of our family gatherings. This year when my mom said she would like to do it again I thought a change would be nice for all of us. I really had other motives in mind for not hosting. I love decorating my house for the holidays, and I thought if I didn't have Thanksgiving I could spend the week before turkey day decorating and organizing. I had visions of waking up tomorrow morning to a spotless house, decorations perfectly placed everywhere, perhaps making Christmas goodies with the children to freeze and then share with friends and neighbors. Unfortunately this was not to be.

The week was chaotic. I had four of the five children home from school and they wanted to play, not help decorate for Christmas. I forgot I had told them they could each have a friend spend the night the last week of vacation (what was I thinking?). So, we spent the beginning of the week hosting sleepovers, going to the movies, and just hanging out having fun. This left me two days before Thanksgiving to get some stuff done. My wonderful husband made dinner Tuesday night on the grill and it was delicious. Unfortunately, within an hour of eating I was violently ill. My first thought was food poisoning but no one else in the family got sick. I was sick all Tuesday night and Wednesday and woke up this morning feeling better but not quite 100%.

So, needless to say, my house is not perfectly clean and beautifully decorated for me to wake up to tomorrow morning. I am two days behind on all of my regular chores and a huge pile of laundry is waiting for me in the hallway. My highschooler has a baseball tournament an hour away all weekend long and we usually try to go as a family to as many games as possible. The Christmas photo did not get taken on Wednesday as planned so this must still be done, and instead of being all most done Christmas shopping I have only bought a few things. My youngest son wanted to know if we were going to the mall tomorrow to see Santa as he thought it was best if we hand delivered his Christmas wish list? So much for being ahead of the game.

I think next year I will host Thanksgiving again.