Most Wonderful

I never realized what a kid I am until I had kids of my own, who provided me with a legitimate excuse to get crazy excited this time of year!!

What a fun week it's been! It all began on Wednesday evening, when we bundled up and drove down to Cincinnati for the "Festival of Lights" kick-off at the zoo. We walked past millions of lights; sang songs and read a story with Mrs. Claus; visited 2 live reindeer; rode the train past millions more lights; hugged Frosty, 2 gingerbread men and several elves; watched a couple of rapping tiger heads; and headed home at 9 when the zoo closed. We were hoping to see Santa, but when we arrived at his crib around 8:30, w were told that "Santa has gone back to the north pole." (I think that's code for "Santa is taking a smoking break") On the trip home, Moo and Karis stayed awake for the entire 90 minutes, and I don't think Karis paused for breath between stories.

Thursday we enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving manicotti with Danny's parents and spent the evening playing "Mexican Train." Danny and the kiddos headed home, while my MIL, FIL and I drove to Toys R Us for the midnight sale - a first (and last) for all of us! I have never seen such craziness - and I'm used to the Black Friday crowds. After waiting in a line which nearly wrapped around the ENTIRE building, and fighting our way through a sea of other seriously messed-up people, I was able to procure some of what I was after for the kiddos, making the whole escapade a roaring success. We called my FIL, who had slept in the truck for the nearly 2 hours we were there, headed back to their house, and fell into bed around 1:45. I somehow don't think he'll be giving me that stack of ads to look through on Thanksgiving Day next year!

I woke back up at 4:15 and headed to 3 other places, where I landed HUGE savings, before driving back home by 8:00am. Woo hoo! My Christmas shopping is officially finished! Also, this day is great for adding to my "gift stash" for birthday parties the kiddos go to for the whole of next year - it allows me to get some really nice things and save some serious cash.

When I got home, we ate breakfast, cleaned up the house and drove out to our favorite Christmas Tree farm, where we had a blast cutting down our tree. Zeke, for some reason, felt it necessary to wear a necktie over his T-shirt for the day, and kept his coat unzipped to show it off, until I got really cold and made him zip it back up.

On our way back home, we did our traditional lunch stop at Red & Ruth's pizza in Palestine. Yum! Last year we made such good time cutting down our tree that we were too early to eat lunch there. I've never seen Danny so disappointed. This year, he made sure we didn't even leave the house until after 10:30 just to be safe!

We came home, spent the afternoon decorating the tree and the house, and watched Elf while eating bowls of cinnamon-sugar popcorn. Really - does it get any better than that??

Today, my sister and her family, and my mom and dad, came over for a turkey dinner. Other than the fact that the stinkin' turkey took about 2 hours longer to cook than my downloaded "turkey cooking time" chart had indicated, the day was a success. I highly recommend turkey brining - delicious! The cousins played, the men watched football, and the women-folk had a chance to talk and snuggle with Ellie, my littlest niece. We took a walk to the park, came home and had turkey sandwiches!

Right now, it's not difficult to think of things to be thankful for. It's nice to spend time with family - both immediate and extended. And it's nice to have holiday traditions. Now, to wrap all those presents . . .