Sandy, Count me as one of those "teary eyed" people too. Can get choked up at any little kindness or concern! Often even get that way at church services--especially the really moving ones. I love your new tradition. And it is so good for all of us to focus on the good things in our lives. Goodness knows we certainly hear more bad stuff than we need to. I'll go look for your other thread now. Luvs

I'm in MN too. And it is probably not too early for you. I am always chomping at the bit to get going right after Christmas. I have learned though that depending on what I am starting, it is possible to start too early :) For perennials and some annuals that take a long time (i.e. geraniums, petunias) I've started them in January. For shorter season things like veggies, I usually try to wait until later in Febuary at least. I started my tomato seeds in January one year and they were almost 4 feet tall before I could get them planted out. They did wonderfully, but they were a little unruly to deal with in the house/greenhouse. One thing to keep in mind is to remember how much light space you have. You don't want to be using all your lighted space for germination trays. Then when you go to repot the seedlings into their own pots you will run out of lighted space for them (speaking from experience here! :)

Wish I could say I have holiday traditions, but that's not the way with my family. We never were what you could say 'close' and or 'traditional', us kids were pretty much on our own from the time we could walk. But I do have some fall traditions that I have made for myself. Maybe that counts in this thread. One of my favorite fall traditions is fried green tomatoes. I know in the south you can buy green tomatoes year round, but it seems to be a northern thing, especially with northern males, that no tomatoe shall be picked unripe until there is absolutely no chance it will ripen. These past couple weeks I have been stuffing myself on fried green tomatoes, I want to get sick of them now because I know that I won't have them again for another year. If anyone is interested I do have recipes for green tomatoe pickles, I just never learned how to can so can't use the recipes, but have them because I collect cookbooks and read them like novels, lol. Another fall tradition is the collection of black walnuts. I only have one tree, but since me and the squirrels are the only ones eating them, that is more than enough in most years. Right now I have them laying in my driveway, it is easier to get the husk off after running over them a few weeks with the cars. But please, only do this on a blacktop driveway, they will stain concret something aweful, it will never come out, don't want anyone coming after me when black walnuts stain their driveway, lol. Soon I will be cracking them, drying the meats and then it's black walnut cake and cookies. Most of which I freeze and eat in bits and pieces since black walnuts is an aquired taste, I know very few people who love it as much as I do. Another fall favorite is the ornimental chard I put in just because I think it's pretty, namely bright lights. Just before it's about done for the season, I cook it the old fashion southern way, wilt it in bacon grease (all southern cooks have a container of bacon grease in their fridge) and add some vinegar. I also have some flowering quince that actually produce fruit from time to time. It is too bitter to eat as is, but simmer it in some sugar water, kind of candy it, and it is a tasty toast spread. And in years I am able to garden, I grow my own pumpkins and use them to make real pumpkin pie. Do you know that most canned pumpkin you buy in the stores is not real pumpkin? It's mostly squash because that makes a prettier color. My real pumpkin pies may be lighter in color and have more texture than what most are use to, not all like it, but there are some who beg me to make them a real pumpkin pie, don't want anything else once they taste mine. Oh yea, and there are the late ripening apples that I have learned to appriciate, namely Mutsu, makes about the best apple pies. Again, anyone who wants about the best apple pie recipe you could find, ask, has a special twist to it. Dang, got myself in a baking mood, might have to take advantage of all the cheap pumpkins around and make a pie or two or three or four, no problem getting rid of them, lol.

Excellent reminder, Erica! :-) I love Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving decorations are so hard to find, but I managed to get my hands on a few little fall things this weekend, and with the fall wreath and mini-pumpkins I left up after halloween, the place looks pretty good. This weekend I also redid the candle centerpiece in the middle of the dining room table - cleaned out all the halloween candles and marbles, and replaced them with clear and yellow marbles, a couple toffee colored candles, one white candle, and an adorable white pumpkin candle that I found at a craft show this weekend. I'm hoping to find a little more Thanksgiving stuff each year - Avon has a scarecrow garland on sale that I think I'll order at the end of this month for next year. :-) So my decorating is done, and finally the planning is done too. This is my first year of holidays with in-laws, which is difficult (I knew it would be), because MIL is very "needy" in terms of time spent with her son. I tried to get both his and my parents to come to our house, but his refused to move it from their house, so we will go over there for Thanksgiving day. I did *not* want to go to both houses in one day, so I asked my parents if they'd like to come over for dinner the Sat. night after Thanksgiving, and they've agreed, which is a relief. So I still get to make a big meal (I've always wanted to try cooking a turkey - this year will be my first year), just a couple days later. So I think we're all set - now if I could just find some cranberries... ;-)