We had a fabulous Thanksgiving meal at Mom's this year. I'm not sure why it was different, but the turkey was more succulent than I remember from years past. Maybe that was due to having no one around to distract her while she was cooking. As per usual, Step and I hit the road about 2 hours after my targeted time...though that was partly due to my unrealistic 7am goal. As a result we made it to Mom's way too late to be of much help. Good food, plenty of wine, and loving company...it's just what Thanksgiving should be all about.
On Friday, Mom and I hit the shops before 8am to get started on our Christmas shopping. I was astounded to see a sea of cars already overflowing the parking lots by the time we got to the mall. It's fun to shop with Mom; she always knows where the bargains are...indeed, she had made a list of all the early bird specials she was hoping to hit before noon. Despite the detailed Christmas list I made, I think I managed to spend more money on new clothes for me than on gifts for other people.
After shopping, we took Homer over to Dad's and managed to convince Dad, Diana, Jason, and Johnna to join us at the Imax in Dallas for the latest Matrix movie. Most everybody panned the movie, but it wasn't any worse than what I was expecting so I wasn't at all disappointed. Dad et. al. spent most of the rest of the day getting started on decorating the house for Christmas. He has really gotten into the spirit since he bought his house a couple of years ago. I think it all started with hanging icicle lights one season and progressed over the next few years to buying net lights for his bushes, lining the front porch with colored lights, setting up a colorful luminaria around the yard, stringing a light tree from their lamp-post, and setting up a lighted Santa, sleigh, and reindeer display. This year he added a 5' singing Santa to his porch. It's activated with a motion sensor and has a four song repertoire. You can also plug a microphone into its base and sing along. He has a great time with it and loves to tell one and all about the cars that stop to watch it before continuing down the road. All this has certainly put me in the Christmas mood. I'm eager to start decorating my own house, though we won't be doing anything nearly as elaborate since we won't be around to enjoy it over Christmas.
Posted by jfer at November 29, 2003 9:13 PM