Monday, November 30, 2009

Advent begins...

We had a wonderful holiday weekend, and it was hard to come back to work this morning. For the first Sunday of Advent, Henry once again went with the big kids for the Children's Liturgy of the Word. He did excellent, though he mentioned when he returned to the pew that each week he uses the potty back in the sacristy, because "they have a really nice bathroom back there, Mommy."

It was a lovely Mass though, and now that I can listen to the readings and homily uninterrupted it's like a bonanza for me each week. Not that I minded doing my motherly duty by keeping Henry occupied in the pew for the entire Mass, but this is an unexpected treat. It's working out very well.

We set up our Christmas tree this weekend and all of our Advent and Christmas decorations. I took pictures, and then promptly left the camera at home, sorry about that. I'll post them tomorrow. The Advent wreaths look lovely; we lit the first candle yesterday after dinner. I set up the wood Advent calendar and within hours, some cute little person (who will remain nameless) took it down and shook all the charms out from their tiny boxes and we now have 23 charms instead of 24. Luckily, Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus have been located and are resting comfortably back in their boxes. I think we're missing a donkey. Ah, well.

Henry's Fisher Price Nativity Set is so, so adorable, and he begged to set it up on Friday, so we did. He's really into it this year, acting out all kinds of adventures for the Holy Family. We have quite an extensive set, with the 3 Wise Men, lots of animals and numerous shepherds. Hank keeps asking if King Herod came to see baby Jesus (he remembers his Bible stories very well, that child) and I told him that no, King Herod did not; it he had, it really would have put a damper on the first Christmas.

So, back on Friday, I lost my senses a bit and agreed to go shopping with my mom. I've gone shopping on Black Friday before, and it's always been a fairly excruciating experience. This year, I did it right. My mom tried to convince me to wake up at 4 am like she was, but I merely snorted in response. There is no material object in this world worth waking up at 4 am for, I say. The only time I was up that early was the night/morning I went into labor with Hank. Enough said.

So, we all slept in, and I leisurely strolled out of bed at 7:30 am. My mom was already at the mall, chomping at the bit on her blue tooth, wanting to know where I was. By time I left the house, it was 8:30, and the first place I headed was Jo Ann Fabric. Not too many people at the craft store on Black Friday - how many hard core knitters are there, anyway? Not very many, I assure you.

After that, I met my mom at Toys R Us. Now this, my friends, was ugly. Parking wasn't bad, because our Toys R Us is located in a plaza where a number of stores have gone out of business, so plenty of parking to be had. Shopping carts on the other hand - I actually had to stalk the front of the store and beat someone to a recently deposited cart, that's how desperate I was. Constantly at my elbow, there was a person in my way. Granted, I was also in their way. Can't be helped. It was before 1 pm, so we did manage to snag some doorbusters - I got a $40 Transformer for Hank for $20, and an adorable Spider Man/Incredible Hulk set of megablocks for $14.99, marked down from $25. It was sweet.

Not so sweet was the check-out line. But I saved $45 overall, so I was a very happy librarian. Armed with my yarn and toys, I went home exhilarated...

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