Black Friday

Yesterday, it was almost 70 degrees. I wore short sleeves and a skirt for Thanksgiving dinner. By nightfall, it was snowing. I wasn't planning to do any Black Friday shopping whatsoever. There was nothing in the ads I wanted badly enough to stand in the snow at 3 am. However, the turkey, pie, and wine got to me. After sitting around in my food coma looking at ads, I decided I really needed to get some more shopping finished. So Mom and I went out about 7 am and hit a bunch of stores. I found exactly what Aidan wanted, finished a couple of people, and just in general accomplished a lot by 10:30 am. When I got home, we ate an early lunch and started on the Christmas decoration. The boys didn't have a lot of interest until ornament time, but Sophie wanted to help. She called the lights "candles" and was convinced that they belonged to her - not on the tree. She started out by holding them for Tony nicely, but then would steal them and run off.

I wish I could have videotaped the problem, but it was all I could do to snap a picture before Tony was hollering for me to come and get her off the lights. After the tree was up, we all took naps. We got up and worked a couple more hours and then went out to dinner. The kids were very well behaved, and it was fun to go out just us - a rare treat. After dinner we headed home to put Sophie to bed and finish up the decorations. They look pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Here's "Santa's tree" in the family room:

The stockings on the mantle:

Mommy and Daddy's tree in the living room:

I am so glad to have the decorations up - it's a huge job! It went a lot faster this year since the boys were able to really help and not just cause more problems. Now that they're in bed, Tony and I are kicking back in front of the tree with "grown-up" hot cocoa - peppermint schnapps - yummy! Looking forward to lots of fun things tomorrow, and then Sunday as a day of rest!