Thanksgiving this year consisted of Steve, Johnny and myself. Just us 3! My mom's side of the family was in Houston this year, my dad was with Deb's family, and Steve's family was in Philly. Considering Steve had to work before the crack of dawn the next morning, we decided to just stay home and have our own little Thanksgiving celebration. We watched some of the parade, caught a little football action on and off throughout the day, and even went to see Frozen in the theater!
Technically, I'd call our Thanksgiving adventure Johnny's first actual movie theater experience. He went with the Delafield side of the family to see The Proposal when he was about 3 months old, since we all wanted to go and there was no point in hiring a sitter when an infant is free to take in. It was a mid-summer matinee, and as we predicted, no one there but ourselves. When he was just a little over a year old, we went to see Despicable Me with some family and again were without a sitter, but just the same it was again a mid-summer matinee and there weren't many people there. Johnny started to get fussy (obviously not watching the movie) about a half hour in, so Steve and I just took turns pacing in the hallway outside of the screening with the door propped open so we could still see what was going on. Thursday however was Johnny's first real movie. We of course sprung for the insanely expensive popcorn to enjoy the experience in it's full glory, half of which Johnny promptly spilled all over the floor, and found some perfect seats in an almost-empty screening room. Johnny wore his headphones for the first 3/4 of the film, and then since kid's movies are never turned up quite as loud as adult flicks, his ears had adjusted enough that he was able to watch the last bit of the movie without them on. The Steeler's game ended our little Thanksgiving, and the kid slept in the next day until almost 10:30.
Black Friday: Yes, I'm one of those parents who took my kid shopping with me on the most insane day of the year in the world of retail. In all fairness, I didn't have a list or anything in particular I was looking for, and when Little Man got tired, we went home. We just ventured out to look for good deals and do his part of the Christmas shopping. While it took a little persuasion for me to convince him that after our 20 minute look through Kohls that it wasn't worth waiting in line for 2 hours to pay for the $3 fleece blanket that he wanted, I was able to convince him that we could buy one elsewhere for about the same price without a line. (And we did!)
The best part of the day by far was going to the Dollar Store to let him pick out stuff for everyone. I gave him a whole list of people to buy for, and wrote down who was getting what as he stuck it in the cart. Gifts included things such as: a neon pink ski hat for my father, "Grandpa Without the Mustache": mardi gras beads for my 15 year old cousin, Wally; a large ornament shaped cut-out made of felt for his grandma; and a 2-pack of reindeer antler headbands for Steve's dad, "Grandpa With the Mustache". I am so excited that he is old enough to do his own shopping like this! It is too much fun!!! I remember my parents taking me to the Dollar Store to pick out Christmas presents when I was his age, and I think that the tradition of allowing us kids to be involved in gift-giving from such an early point in our lives is what turned me into such a Christmas nut. (I'm one of those people who is usually finished shopping by August and any deals found on Black Friday are just an additional bit of joy or used for later birthday presents! Don't worry though-- I'm not one of those people playing Christmas songs by November 1st and watching all of the TV specials before Thanksgiving is even over!)
Overall, our holiday weekend was quite lovely. I got a chance on Saturday to FaceTime for about 2 hours with one of my best friends who is all the way over in South Korea. Yesterday we began attending a new church, which was very welcoming, and then had a small-ish Thanksgiving celebration at my mom's house with her and her husband, my stepbrother, and my sister Christy and her boyfriend. It wasn't our typical overly-rushed family-intense holiday, but I think I kind of like how it turned out. After all, we'll see all of those same people we missed in less than a month, anyway. It was kind of nice having some time with just my boys.
Technically, I'd call our Thanksgiving adventure Johnny's first actual movie theater experience. He went with the Delafield side of the family to see The Proposal when he was about 3 months old, since we all wanted to go and there was no point in hiring a sitter when an infant is free to take in. It was a mid-summer matinee, and as we predicted, no one there but ourselves. When he was just a little over a year old, we went to see Despicable Me with some family and again were without a sitter, but just the same it was again a mid-summer matinee and there weren't many people there. Johnny started to get fussy (obviously not watching the movie) about a half hour in, so Steve and I just took turns pacing in the hallway outside of the screening with the door propped open so we could still see what was going on. Thursday however was Johnny's first real movie. We of course sprung for the insanely expensive popcorn to enjoy the experience in it's full glory, half of which Johnny promptly spilled all over the floor, and found some perfect seats in an almost-empty screening room. Johnny wore his headphones for the first 3/4 of the film, and then since kid's movies are never turned up quite as loud as adult flicks, his ears had adjusted enough that he was able to watch the last bit of the movie without them on. The Steeler's game ended our little Thanksgiving, and the kid slept in the next day until almost 10:30.
Black Friday: Yes, I'm one of those parents who took my kid shopping with me on the most insane day of the year in the world of retail. In all fairness, I didn't have a list or anything in particular I was looking for, and when Little Man got tired, we went home. We just ventured out to look for good deals and do his part of the Christmas shopping. While it took a little persuasion for me to convince him that after our 20 minute look through Kohls that it wasn't worth waiting in line for 2 hours to pay for the $3 fleece blanket that he wanted, I was able to convince him that we could buy one elsewhere for about the same price without a line. (And we did!)
The best part of the day by far was going to the Dollar Store to let him pick out stuff for everyone. I gave him a whole list of people to buy for, and wrote down who was getting what as he stuck it in the cart. Gifts included things such as: a neon pink ski hat for my father, "Grandpa Without the Mustache": mardi gras beads for my 15 year old cousin, Wally; a large ornament shaped cut-out made of felt for his grandma; and a 2-pack of reindeer antler headbands for Steve's dad, "Grandpa With the Mustache". I am so excited that he is old enough to do his own shopping like this! It is too much fun!!! I remember my parents taking me to the Dollar Store to pick out Christmas presents when I was his age, and I think that the tradition of allowing us kids to be involved in gift-giving from such an early point in our lives is what turned me into such a Christmas nut. (I'm one of those people who is usually finished shopping by August and any deals found on Black Friday are just an additional bit of joy or used for later birthday presents! Don't worry though-- I'm not one of those people playing Christmas songs by November 1st and watching all of the TV specials before Thanksgiving is even over!)
Overall, our holiday weekend was quite lovely. I got a chance on Saturday to FaceTime for about 2 hours with one of my best friends who is all the way over in South Korea. Yesterday we began attending a new church, which was very welcoming, and then had a small-ish Thanksgiving celebration at my mom's house with her and her husband, my stepbrother, and my sister Christy and her boyfriend. It wasn't our typical overly-rushed family-intense holiday, but I think I kind of like how it turned out. After all, we'll see all of those same people we missed in less than a month, anyway. It was kind of nice having some time with just my boys.
No comments:
Post a Comment