Monday, December 8, 2014

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

... is a pain in the ass.

We had big plans for the weekends.  We were going to get our tree and see Santa and maybe go ice skating on Saturday.  It was going to be sooo amazing and Christmas-y.  We would be all bundled up in our coats and sip hot chocolate as the kids ran around... the Little Miss (LMA) looking for the perfect tree (while inevitably picking a Charlie Brown tree) and the baby wandering around until he knocked over a tree or tripped over one or whatever cute things babies do.  I don't know.

We were all up early on Saturday.  I fed the kids and looked to see what time the tree lots opened.  We like to support local businesses and causes with our purchases, so we decided to go to the Rescue Mission to get our tree, but they didn't open until ten.  At 9:30, Hamburglar was demonstrating his need of a nap, so we laid him down.  He woke up at 11:00.

We left the house and went to the Mission.  Where it was $60 for a 5-6 foot tree (we have 7 foot ceilings, because our house was built in 1950 and people were little then, I guess.  Or they just really liked having ceilings they could reach up and touch.  I mean, it DOES make for easy dusting).  We are a single income household and $60 for a tree is crazy.  But I had read about a place across town that allegedly had trees for $20.  So we drove across town, stopping at various tree lots along the way who all had prices starting around $40 or more.  We made it to the $20 place across town, but the address was a greenhouse that was obviously closed for the season.  I had seen a place when I picked up LMA from school on Friday that was advertising $30 trees, so we went over there.  The kids wandered around, there was another couple there with their 7 year old daughter and <year old baby who were admiring Hamburglar's fedora (Target.  $8.  He has a rather varied collection of fancy caps and hats).  We picked out our tree (it was crooked on top!  Perfect!) and when I went to pay, the fellas told me they were a cash or check only operation.  We had to use our Christmas Tree cash on a situation, so we were tree shopping on credit.

By this point, I had to use the restroom and we were all really hungry.  I think it was 12 or 12:30.  We decided to stop at the next lot we saw and, upon pulling up, LMA said, "this is where me and mommy and *mom's boyfriend* got our tree."  Mr. Adventure looked at me.  I asked him if he wanted to go somewhere else and he said, "I know it's petty, but yes."

So, we ended up at the same lot we've been to for the past 3 years.  The people there were really nice and we found a great tree for $30 pretty much instantly.

Next was food.  Mr. A had talked about a super delicious pizza place that had cheap lunches that was just down the street, so we stopped there.  They only do the lunch deal during the week and only offer whole pies on the weekend, and they were $20 each-ish.  So, we went to the Argentinian empanada place, which was so crowded there were no tables, and we got our food to go.

After lunch, Chumbercules was ready for a nap.  So, we laid him down around 2 and he slept until about 4.  Then we brought in the tree and decorated and made dinner and whatever, determining we would put off Santa until the following day.  I had also wanted to hit the library to get some books and take the kids to the library puppet show, but Chumby needed to nap.  So, we decided to see Santa Sunday.  But that didn't happen either.  At least we made it to the library.

Also, I heard the Santa I wanted to see wasn't in his sleigh on Saturday anyway.  He was at the local running store or something.

In other news...

Since we put up the tree I feel like I've told Hamburglar not to touch the ornaments about 1000 times.  He has removed and broken three candy canes (and the way he does it is hilarious) and he's been learning new words like crazy.  He said rooster the other day while looking at a rooster.  He knows  owl.  He says "diggle diggle" when he's tickling people and he will say "you're welcome" but it comes out more like "gell-come."

We are still working on weaning.  We've been down to just the before-bed feeding for a long time, and he's not ready to give it up yet.  But I'm ready!  My goal for this last leg was 15 months, which gives us 9 days.  Wish us luck!

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