I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of turkey, pumpkin pie, and GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE.  I can’t tell you how much I love green bean casserole.  I always offer to bring it to Thanksgiving because it is just DELIGHTFUL.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Hubby’s parents with a yummy meal full of all the fixings.  As I mentioned above about my love for green bean casserole, I offered to bring the delightful green bean casserole.  While I am completely aware of the unfanciness of green bean casserole (I may have just made up a new word…), it is one of Hubby’s favorites, as well as mine.

After eating until my waistband seemed a little on the tight-ish side and visiting with his family, we headed for home and I (in some irrational state of mind) headed out to Black Friday Thanksgiving night deals…to shop for the deals that were just beckoning crazy people like me.  Hubby willingly offered to stay home with the troops and maybe watch a little football or something along those lines.

In all honesty, I hadn’t even planned on shopping Thanksgiving night.  I was all in for shopping early Friday morning, like I’ve done with my bestie in previous years.  But.  Wednesday night, while picking up some last minute things at Target, the friendly sales associates informed me all about this Thanksgiving night shopping extravaganza.  Basically, I learned that ALL of the sales would start at 6:00 p.m. and by Friday morning, most of the “good stuff” would be gone.

So, in my craziness, I informed Hubby that I’d probably go to Target a little before 6:00, to stand in line for the “good stuff”.  What that looked like was me arriving to Target and getting into line (the 22nd person) at 3:15.  You guys, I can’t even.  I can’t explain what or why or just WHATEVER.

Did I mention that it was VERY cold?  It was a high of 25 degrees on Thursday, so I’m guessing by 3:15, it was colder than 25 degrees.

By 4:00, I questioned my mental state.  I was freezing, jumping around in a cheerleading dance to keep the blood in my toes circulating (I learned this on Dude, You’re Super Screwed the night before.  Well, not the cheerleading dance steps, but that a person should keep moving to keep the blood circulating in their feet.), and wondered if I was going to REALLY be able to stay out in the cold for two more hours.  (At one point, I would have bet that at 5:40, I’d walk away from it all.  The line.  The “good stuff”.  All of it.  And succumb to defeat.  Yes, I didn’t have a lot of faith in myself to think that I could actually stay out there the whole time.  In the freezing cold.)

By 4:02, this was my post on Facebook:

Oh.  I was so stinkin’ cold!  I began to wonder why I hadn’t grabbed the feet warmers that Hubby got from my parents as a little Thanksgiving gift.  I wondered why I wasn’t layered up in those really soft and fuzzy Cuddl Duds that were in my drawer.  I wondered why I wasn’t wearing my winter Arctic-looking Sorel boots with the fur on top.  I looked around at other people and wondered why I didn’t think to bring a Thermos of something hot to drink.  Clearly, I am a newbie at this.

At different times throughout the afternoon, the friendly Target employees who were appointed to “line control” offered each of us mini granola bar snacks, a party popper with a surprise coupon inside, and asked us what we were shopping for and then proceeded to pull out the store map and show each waiting customer where their coveted item was located at in the store.  This is why I LOVE Target.  Customer service like no other.  In cold, wind, snow, or rain…they are there to offer outstanding customer service.

I’ll admit, there was one point (when hypothermia was about to set in) that I was disillusioned by the cold and was almost talked into purchasing a gift that was $200 more than what I was willing to spend.  It was cold, friends.  Irrationalness had almost set in.  (Or maybe it did before I even went out on this crazy mission…to wait early in line.)  Seriously, I probably would have bought some ocean front property in Minnesota from those friendly Target employees, had they shown me the ad and the selling price.

Well.  At 6:00, I limped my way into Target (my legs were so sore from the cold that I felt like I had ran a marathon) and thank you, Jesus.  I got all of the items I was wanting (and more).  Success warmed up my bones and I was tickled to have scored so big.  I even picked up a camera for my bestie.  (In her defense, she needed to be at home with the kids, but she did have her hubby drop off a blanket for me while I waited in line.  Bless.)

Friday, I slept in like a happy camper who didn’t need to go out and fight crowds.  It was beautiful.  Then, I took the boys to the 240 to hang with Daddy.  Four-wheeling and cutting wood and being outdoors made their hearts happy.  And I came back and cleaned to prepare for Christmas decorating.  Am I the only one who needs to clean for four hours BEFORE any Christmas decorating can be done??

As for the decorating and preparing for Christmas…did I mention…Elfie (our Elf on a Shelf) arrived along with his reindeer?  Well, let me back up and share.

We read the reindeer books Thursday night so the boys could start snuggling with them each and every night.

We read Elfie’s book on Thanksgiving night, also.

Elfie arrived at our house the next morning and just look what he surprised the boys with…

It was a busy weekend for sure.  We decorated our trees…

Nate’s tree in his room

Maxim’s tree in his room

Love this little guy!

Love this little guy!

Our tree…all decorated for Christmas!  These two boys are the best little helpers!

It was a busy weekend, full of blessings (minus the flu).  The rest of the weekend, we nursed a sick little one (poor Maxim had the flu), Hubby worked out at the 240, I went to a friend’s beautiful wedding, and Sunday evening, we continued decorating the house for Christmas.  Well, most of the decorating is done.  Our Christmas tree is up.  The stockings are hung.

Now, it’s December 1st.  And that means, I need to kick it into high gear.  Finish decorating, start baking, finish shopping, start wrapping.  The list could go on and on.

But in all of the busyness, I want to keep it simple and remember…the season is all about our Savior’s birth.  Jesus’ coming to a world in need.  And at a time when I can put so much pressure on myself to have the “perfect Christmas”, I need Him like no other.  Blessings to each of you as we start the beautiful season of Christmas.  May we all lean on Him in our need and truly enjoy this special time…the Christmas season.