We got more phone calls last night than we usually get in a month.

My mom called to talk about plans for Thanksgiving and Matt's birthday. She doesn't want to to two turkeys in a week. And since turkey is, if not Matt's absolute favorite food, then certainly on his top five list, then that's what he's getting for his birthday. So Mom's going to make ham for Thanksgiving. And a new sweet-potato recipe she tried out a few weeks ago that was really amazing. And raspberry creme for dessert. And anything else that we can't live without for Thanksgiving dinner, we'll have to bring ourselves.

Which, honestly, I think is a fine plan. There's no reason for her to kill herself cooking. She's having Matt and Penny and I, and my brother and his wife, and K.T. and Kevin and Jess. Samantha and K.T. and I are all very good cooks. Your mileage may vary, of course, depending on individual preferences, but there's no reason the three of us couldn't each bring a dish or two and ensure the traditional groaning Thanksgiving table just fine.

(Though I guess this means I'll want to buy us a turkey so we can have leftovers and so I can make soup. Which I was considering doing anyway, just because with Matt in the house, there's no chance of turkey going to waste.)

And due to some scheduling issues with John and Sam, Mom wanted to know if it would be okay to have Matt's birthday dinner on Sunday instead of Saturday. Also - fine with us. It gives Mom an extra day to recover from Thanksgiving (and roast Matt's turkey), and it means Matt and I can make plans to do something actually on his birthday.

Braz called to coordinate the evening's basketball plans with Matt. Matt's joined his usual winter basketball league, which means that (aside from the holidays) he'll be going out on Wednesday evenings to play.

I was a little nervous about this last year, when Penny was still practically newborn, but this year she's sleep trained and off to bed by the time he's leaving for the games, so I'm all for it. Matt's an amazing husband and a really super father, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need to get away once in a while. And the less said about his work, the better. So an hour or so once a week to work out some tension and chat with his best friend is a good thing.

And Sam called to talk about what a fruitcake my parents are.

See, back in the summer, when my dad was trying to coordinate getting the whole family together for Christmas, there was this plan: We'd draw names out of a hat, and buy a nice-ish present for only the person whose name we drew. Penny excluded, of course, as she's too young to get presents for anyone, and there's no way anyone was going to try to tell anyone else not to get her anything. But us adults, we were only going to give and receive one gift each.

It was a good plan. It was easy on our budgets. (Especially good for my generation, because the cousins are all only recently out of college, and John and Sam are on a tight budget, and Matt and I have this money-burner baby...) It meant we wouldn't have to wrack our brains for ideas for gifts to get relatives that we don't actually know very well. It meant we wouldn't have to endure awful gifts from relatives who don't know us very well. It was, above all, simple.

And then Dad said to me in an aside, "Of course, your mother and I will probably still get something for you and Matt and John and Sam." Well... Okay, fine, whatever.

And then a while later, Dad said to me, "I just wanted to clear up any confusion... The family exchange is separate from the regular Christmas we'll have here." (The family exchange will be on Christmas Eve, I think. It's hard to make concrete plans that involve Bill and Sharon; I don't think they've ever not played things by ear.)

Which gave me to understand that I was supposed to get this moderately-priced gift for the family exchange, plus all the usual gifts for Mom and Dad and John and Sam and Grandmom.

There went "easy on the budget." There went "wracking my brain." There went simplicity.

But, y'know. Whatever. I mentally dialed down my budget, and continued planning.

John and Sam, though, have a very tight budget - he's a school teacher, for cryin' out loud - and this kind of put them in the hurt. So Sam called me after talking to my mom to try to figure out exactly what's supposed to be going on. Which I couldn't really tell her.

But we agreed that the four of us "kids" would not exchange presents, at least. (Well, sort of. I drew Sam's name for the family exchange.)

Hey-ho for the holidays, right?

And I haven't even started to organize things for the moon cookie party, yet... Damn, I've only got a couple of weeks. I'd better get on with it.

--Liz