Happy Black Friday

So we all survived Thanksgiving! Yeah! It was a very relaxing day aside from my mom asking every five minutes if she could have Emma today. One no should suffice right? And thankfully I didn't go "Uncle Doug" on anyone...yet at least. So now we have the looming Black Friday. Where people are crazy and this year, surprisingly, things are not that on sale. I did see some things I would like: Home Depot has poinsettia's for 1.86 each, somewhere else had 9' garland for a price that seemed good. I am also all about the decorating the house this weekend. And here is what I have decided. This is the last year we are going anywhere for the weekend after Thanksgiving. Here's what I am saying: when I was a little girl we hardly ever got our tree early. When we did, my parents would put the tree up and it would stand naked until a couple of days before Christmas or it would be propped up outside to wait until we could get to it. When I was an only child I remember where we would actually decorate the tree and my dad would put me on his shoulders to adorn the top with the final piece, the beautiful angel. Those are some of my fondest memories. So since I have been married I have always insisted we have a family time together where we decorate the tree. Who finds it enjoyable when you are sticking ornaments up as fast as you can just to get it done? I love going through the ornaments with Nicholas talking about where we picked this one up from or how his mom made him that one, or my grandma gave me this one. And I realize that the tree itself is a huge undertaking, not to mention the decorating of the entire interior and exterior of our mammoth house, which is why we need an entire weekend. During the weekend I am envisioning Emma giggling at all of the silly ornaments, being amazed by the lights, and loving to gently touch all of the wonderful surprises that are pulled out of the boxes while we all listen to Christmas music and sip eggnog. This year our epiphany of a Christmas tradition is being altered slightly due to holiday plans. While I am happy about those two, we came to the conclusion that this is the last year we will be traveling.

Basically this is what it boils down to: I had some bleak, dark, awful childhood moments. This is my time to make up for those times. I am making memories I want now and ensuring that Emma has the best childhood memories one can possibly have. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend as we are officially in the opening of the Christmas season. This is the time I have been looking forward to all year!