Day 22-24: Thankful for Christmas Shopping, Thanksgiving Shopping, and Short Work Weeks

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend I've just had.  I can't believe I didn't even have time to blog.  That NEVER happens.  I don't remember the last weekend in which I didn't write my blog before I did anything else.  But, this weekend was an exception because I had so much going on and I really just didn't have time.

Being that I have to play catch-up, I'm combining three days in to one.  Today, I'm thankful for Christmas shopping, Thanksgiving shopping, and short work weeks.  I won't get to write about each of them in as much detail as I'd like, but they are three good ones to put together.

On Saturday, the reason I didn't get to blog was because I had to get up at 4AM in order to take Peanut to her first show choir competition.  We had to be at the high school by 6AM, and it's almost an hour drive for us, so we had to get up super early and leave super early.  We arrived on time and I followed the school bus to the competition to watch her perform.  Her school was the first up to perform, so we were done by 9AM.  The girls did a fantastic job and I was so proud of them.  I even teared up watching Peanut up on the stage.

Anywho, once Peanut was done, we had decided to go and do some Christmas shopping in Joplin while we waited for Butter who was wrestling.  Butter had an all day wrestling tournament, and as much as I love to watch him wrestle, I really wasn't feeling spending 6 hours in a gym waiting for him to have a match.  So, Peanut and I decided to use that time more productively.

We had an absolute BLAST Christmas shopping.  We managed to find a ton of bargains and sales thanks to the Pre-Black Friday sales all the stores were having.  Who knew it was such a good idea to go Christmas shopping the weekend before Black Friday?  We shopped at Toys R Us, Ross, stopped for some lunch at Logan's, and then hit the mall.  I was so thankful for the girl time Peanut and I were able to have, and I'm also extremely thankful that I was able to enjoy the shopping experience without worrying about what I was buying or how much it was going to cost.  We spent a lot of time window shopping, and picked up what we wanted to.  It was a lot of fun. I feel a lot better now knowing that I have at least some of my Christmas shopping done.  I was getting a little worried, being that I'm usually done by now.

Our day of shopping ended around 2PM, when it was time to pick up Butter.  By the time we got home, we were all exhausted and ready for a nap.  Being that it was after 4PM by that time, there wasn't much of a nap to be had.  But, I did enjoy a relaxing evening.

Yesterday, Hubby and I went out and did our Thanksgiving shopping.  I am so thankful that we get to have a family Thanksgiving at home and that I was able to go out and buy all of our favorite things to eat on the big day.  Hubby worked on putting an organized list together of what we are going to eat, and then we built our shopping list around it.  As of right now, P-Momma may be coming to have Thanksgiving with us, which I'd love.  I always LOVE cooking for people on Thanksgiving, and she is one person I'd love to have with us.  We managed to pick up all of our favorite fixings, and then some.  There will be quite a bit of food for us to eat, that's for sure.

All the shopping made for one very exhausting weekend.  Throw in the fact that I was getting over some form of sickness, and it took every ounce of energy out of me.  Which leads me to the fact that I'm so thankful for short work weeks.  Being that I had such a busy weekend, and very little sleep, I am so thankful that I only have to make it through today and tomorrow and then I'll have five glorious days off work.

I'm also thankful for short work weeks because I get to have some fun with my kiddos.  The two days before Thanksgiving are always fun because we move away from our normal learning standards and spend quite a bit of time just having fun and being creative.  We make some crafts, write about Thanksgiving, and do lots of coloring.  It's a great time for the kids and I both.  They are usually extremely hyper and ready for the break, so trying to teach them anything new is downright impossible.  So, it makes more sense to fill up the two days with fun reviews in the form of crafts.  It's also a great time to discuss how thankful we are for what we have.

Speaking of which, I need to think about getting ready for work.  I have to leave for a little while this morning because Jelly is going to be the Terrific Tiger at her school.  I'm going to surprise her by being there.  I'm excited!

Today, I'm thankful for such a great weekend of shopping and the fact that I have only two days to get through before I have some much needed family time.  It's going to be a great week, I just know it.

Have a great Monday, everyone!