Give Thanks for Thanksgiving

Ready or not, the holidays are upon us but, I am an avid “wait until after Thanksgiving to bust out the Christmas tree” girl. I firmly believe that we need to pause before the rush of the holidays to truly give thanks for all we have in this wonderful thing called life.

I also love a good meal, good wine and good company–which is pretty much sums up Thanksgiving in my family. To continue some our family traditions with my children, I look forward to baking Monkey Bread on Thanksgiving morning with the Macy’s Day Parade playing in the background and then heading to my mom’s mid-day to help decorate and set the table before sitting down to a fantastic spread of all the traditional fixings and of course, lots of wine.

My Christmas decorating then promptly begins the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I typically go completely nuts–like it will take me about 7-10 days to get it all just right. Depending on the weather, that may or may not include the outside . . .

As you may know, by reading My Story, I like to decorate on a dime. And of all the holidays, Christmas is my favorite time of year to go snooping around outside to see what sort of sticks, greenery and dried flora I can scavage to put in my Christmas tree, garlands and wreaths.

However, this year may prove to be a bit more challenging because I recently broke my foot . . . by dancing on a table . . . falling/jumping down from said table. . . in front of 300 people . . . at a fundraiser . . . for a school-mentoring organization . . . CLASSY.

The story of a broken foot

But, Danielle, how pray tell did you end up on the table? Well, this fundraiser featured dueling pianos for entertainment. The performers are very funny and are all about getting the crowd involved. For one particular song they asked each table to select the “most sophisticated woman” at the table to come up. Naturally, the table selected me . . . foul-mouthed, wine-guzzling, stay-at-home-mom whose current idea of “culture” is anything other than what’s playing on Netflix for kids.

You read that right . . . this all started because I was the “most sophisticated woman” at our table . . . yep, and it gets better . . . .

So, I saunter up to the center of the room with about 30 other ladies and we proceed to dance along as instructed by the performers. Then, at one point they ask us to do our best “burlesque dance.”

I have never been one to shy away from the spotlight, and some might say that I seek it. And if you know me and especially if you know tipsy me, ain’t no one–and I mean NO ONE going to outshine me in a dance competition.

And certainly not when it involves pretending to be a stripper.

So, I proceeded to push the girls on each side of me out of the way, climbed on top of the chair and then the table in front of me, attempted some epic “burlesque” dance moves: booty shaking, drop it like its hot, hair flinging–you get the picture.

This is what I was going for . . .

via GIPHY

And this is what it probably looked like . . .

via GIPHY

and then . . . . the table started to wobble and I knew it was time to dismount.

Only problem was there were about 83 beer bottles and 62 drinks on the table and people sitting on the other side that I had to avoid. Oh, and I was in 4 inch stiletto heels. So, I did the only rational thing to do when you find yourself standing on a table, acting like a Vegas showgirl, about the fall in front of 300 people . . .

I jumped.

While folks tried to catch me, I landed with such conviction that judges at the Olympics would have remarked on my ability to “stick the landing” and I would have for sure, received a “10”.

Nailed it.

via GIPHY

But, something was terribly wrong . . .

I thought and what I immediately said out loud was:

“you guys, I think I broke my shoe!”

I hobbled to my table and sat down to inspect the damage to my “shoe”.

Thank God, the shoe was fine.

My foot, however, was the broken party. And broken badly.

Now, here’s a situation where I do not want to be the center of attention. I was adamant that we make a swift exit so as to not ruin the party. Heaven forbid the “life of the party” turn into a “party foul!”

With the help of my good friend–who, by the way, performed the most stealthy “carry-out” rescue I’ve ever seen (Oscar-worthy)–we snuck out relatively unnoticed and made our way to the ER.

The verdict, I broke all 5 metatarsal bones in my right foot. The four smaller will get plates and the big one will be fused. Go big or go home.

I did both.

Surgery is scheduled for November 20, so I may or may not need to take a week off or so from blogging, depending on how things go.

Everything happens for a reason

I have also realized that this broken foot thing may prove to be more helpful to you all than I had initially thought. At first, I was devastated because I had some BIG plans for the holiday blog posts. And I mean BIG, like move out the way Martha because you haven’t seen Christmas decor until you’ve seen it at the Highway 20 Collective.

But, my BIG plans may not have been very “practical” for the everyday Joe decorator out there. And I promised accessibility, folks. Little did I know that accessibility meant accessible by knee scooter or crutches . . .

So, we will be starting small this year.

It has also caused me to be thankful for so many things. The list is long, but here are a few:

1. Obviously, my ability to walk unassisted. To anyone who does not have this luxury, deals with a permanent disability and still manages to accomplish daily tasks–you are amazing and inspiring.
2. My family and friends for taking care of me and trying to get me to see the humor in this incident (it is finally becoming funny to me).
3. My mom. THE END.
4. My knee scooter because crutches are a bitch.
5. The doctors, nurses and staff of the Chadron Community Hospital for the excellent care (as always).
6. Wide-leg pants to cover the less-than-stylish “boot” I am sporting.

Give Thanks Printable

In honor of my will to wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas, my new-found appreciation for the small things and to thank you all for your love and support of the Highway 20 Collective, I am offering you a little gift.

Printables are an easy way to change out your decor to match the season. I have a frame that sits in my living room that is designated specifically for this purpose. All you need is a printer, scissors, and a cute frame.

All my current subscribers will be receiving this free “Give Thanks” printable. Go ahead, check your email–it should already be there!

Not a subscriber yet? That’s okay, just sign up below (scroll to the very bottom) or in the menu on the right, under my Bio, and you will receive your printable via email within about 24-48 hours.

The file will be a PDF with two sizes, 4×6 and 5×7, to fit any standard frame. You can print on plain white paper or on colored cardstock to change it up.

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This should tide you over until I can post again–which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

And no need to send your sympathies to me for my predicament, I got myself into this mess. I just hope you got a giggle out of my story.

Cheers.