Pleasures of Life

Today I get to watch three of my kids in the Santa parade (supposedly the oldest Christmas parade in the country) and watch one of them gather candy to his heart's content. I'm going to have to go to "the closet" and dig out those Santa hats. It will definitely be more enjoyable with it being in the 50s instead of the 20s!

Yesterday I experienced some other life pleasures:

• The joy of watching a lady in front of me in line at Hobby Lobby entertain my bored five year old while we waited for an elderly gentlemen to purchase $150 worth of half priced ornaments (I'm not exaggerating! I heard the lady tell him his total). They were, of course, all fragile and needed to be wrapped. Thank you to the kind stranger who kept Nathan occupied with discussing all things cowboy related.
• Getting to sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in the car with the kids. Jingle Bells and Frosty were also on the program for our short drive to nearby shopping.
• Hitting Sam's Club's holiday food fest! Wow...samples galore. And what was even more awesome was that they offered...actually encouraged...the kids to have some of it. I'm always feeling a little guilty when I pass out cheesecake samples to the four kids in my family when I know I have absolutely no intention of buying it and they (the kids) have no money. One sample lady said "Well, someone is going to eat it, it might as well be your kids!" She was referring to the petite peppered fillet which was melt in your mouth delicious and $3.98/lb. (think they'll pay me for advertising??) To quote Ashley "Ahhh, I just want to lick every last drop out of this plastic cup.)
• I love jokes told by my kids especially when they have no idea why they are funny. They've heard them before, gotten some laughs and so decide to tell them again. They are funny when they know and understand the jokes too. My favorites on the trip home yesterday...knock, knock joke with bananas and oranges. It is an oldy, but a goody and pretty much any age can tell it without messing it up. And a new one I heard yesterday which, according to my kids, can be attributed to Bugs Bunny.....How do you make antifreeze? Take away her pajamas. I had a good laugh over that one. Not funny? Well, maybe you should have Nathan tell it to you sometime. I pretty much guarantee a laugh.

Well, I'm off to search for Santa hats....