Wow! What a week. This past week was great, relaxing, fun...
Yes, I'm actually talking about Thanksgiving. There really was no drama. No fighting. No crying. Just good.
My kids had no school last week, so I decided to take Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off to spend time with them. It was a good decision. We were lazy. We stayed home. We did nothing spectacular, really, but it was great. Matt and I even managed to squeeze in an at-home date. Wine, pizza, and Scrabble. It was the most fun I have had in months.
We had Parent/Teacher Conferences for the kids on Tuesday night. Our instincts that they are utter and totally delightful geniuses was confirmed.
Thanksgiving was a breeze. On Wednesday, my fantastic kids helped me clean and bake all day long, never once complaining, or asking if they could be done. They just kept asking what they could do next. Thursday morning, they watched the parade, then played nicely together with no arguing. My turkey was not frozen, cooked right on time, and looked perfect. We ate on time. My mother did my dishes! Family and friends came, had dessert, stayed just long enough, and my mother-in-law took my kids home to sleep at her house. This is an arrangement we have sort of fallen into over the years. She keeps my kids so I can go Black Friday shopping; I shop from her list so she does not have to go. It works really well. Matt and I were in bed by 8:30. Right on schedule for my shopping blitz.
Because Walmart and Toys R Us were opening at midnight, I intended to get back up at 11:00 and head in to town. At around 10:55, I woke up to headlights shining into the bedroom from the driveway. A little unsettled by a late-night visitor, I woke Matt up to investigate. It was his mother. Her friend was leaving to go home and had backed out of my in-laws' driveway and directly into the ditch. Matt promptly got up to go help. I got up, got dressed and went down to see what was up. (My in-laws live about 150 yards down the road from us.) When I got there, he had already hooked a strap to the truck and dragged her out. I continued on my quest for inexpensive toys.
Walmart was easy. I was able to get most of the things on my list. I had strategized, planned, made spreadsheets. I was a shopping machine. Then I got to Toys R Us. They had already been open for an hour, and there was a line around the building. Two people came out, they let two people in. There was no way I was standing in that line. It was ludicrous! It was 1:00am. Target was the next store on my list, and they did not open until 4:00. I decided I would go there park, and just wait. This would be a good chance for me to rest for a while before my next round. So I did. I slept in my car like a hobo. It was surprisingly NOT really that cold. I put my seat back, pulled the extra blanket I had left in the car over me, set my cell phone alarm, and slept. When I got there, there were about 40 people waiting outside. When I awoke at 3:30 to get in line, 10,000 people had arrived! Okay, maybe not quite that many, but it sure looked like it! The line stretched the length of the building, to the end of the parking lot, and down to the back end of the parking lot. It was nuts. 30 minutes later, those people were all inside the store. It was a sea of Canadians pushing shopping carts. Navigating the aisles was impossible. The few things I manage to grab earned me a 45 minute wait in the shortest line in the building to check out. It almost made me reconsider doing any more Black Friday shopping. Almost. After I left Target, the rest of my shopping was considerably less eventful. (The highlight of the day was watching the couple in front of me at Kmart wait 45 minutes in line to purchase a $5.25 tin of popcorn. Seriously.)
Today was our first official day of "No-Chaos Christmas". I explained this theory to the kids. They are totally down. I'm excited for this to work. We started the day with them playing in the snow. Neither of them has snow-pants or winter boots yet, but that didn't bother Go-With-the-Flow Kables. They got out their sleds and went shooting down the driveway, they had a snowball fight, and made snow angels in the driveway. And they took the dog with them. After they came in, we packed up and headed in to town. We had plans to do a little shopping and go to the movies to see Harry Potter. We left way early. We didn't do the downtown thing, but instead went to Marden's. I decided this counts because they are a Maine owned company. =] We milled around, took our time, looked at whatever....I let Lucien push the cart. We even bought a few gifts and our Christmas cards. We got in the car with plenty of time to spare. Went to the movie; it was great. The kids loved it. I loved that on the way home, Ella entertained Lucien with silly voices and a story she was making up on the fly. They giggled and talked really loud, which would normally elicit a "Please not so loud in the car" from me, but I was cool. I went with it. It was fine. I was not distracted to the point of rear-ending the car in front of me. I did not miss a tricky corner and drive my family into a telephone pole. We made it home safely. Matt was here when we got here. The kids snuggled down on the couch with him. Ella was out like a light. Lucien and Matt lasted a little longer, but not much.
So, tomorrow is the last day of our vacation. The kids and I will be in "back to reality" mode. Laundry, changing beds, shopping for new boots and snow pants. We agreed tonight that next weekend we will put up our tree. Matt likes to cut one from our woods. I'm hoping to go to a nearby tree farm to cut one there. They have sleigh-rides, hot chocolate and hot cider, a gift shop, doughnuts. Whatever...either will be cool....no stress, just kid-magic. <3
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