Getting Ready for Christmas

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, we got into the Christmas spirit. I did something I've never done before. I was one of the crazy Black Friday shoppers! On Thanksgiving night, I left the house at midnight and went to Macy's for their big sale. I honestly didn't think I would really find all that much but thought it would be kind of fun to try it. Well, I had the best time and am going to do this every year! I bought a pair of black boots that were normally $165. They were on sale for 2 hours, and I got them for $65! Then I bought all sorts of other shirts, sweaters, and jewelry. I was having so much fun that I didn't even get tired. When I got home, I went into our bedroom very quietly. Wayne woke up and I told him that I was trying to decide if I should try to get some sleep or just stay up. He said, "Ashley, get some sleep or you'll be exhausted tomorrow." And I said, "It IS tomorrow!" I didn't get home until 5:45 am! A big unbelievable, but it was really fun. Not only did I got to Macy's, I also went to Target and Old Navy!

The next day, Nathan and Charlotte started making their Christmas lists, and we got all of the Christmas boxes out of the attic and decorated the house.  

Wayne even went to Toys R Us on Friday for their big sale and got most of our presents for Nathan and Charlotte! Although next year, I might wait a little longer before putting wrapped presents under the tree. The suspense is killing Nathan and Charlotte!

And then it was time for the lights. I wanted to do the lights around the flower beds this year and thought that would be really easy to do. Well, it wasn't. First of all, I had to go all over town looking for the stakes that stick into the ground and attach to the lights. Apparently, this is a very popular thing to have and almost all of the stores were sold out. Wayne was going to do the lights on the trees, but I thought I would go ahead and do the lights on the ground to get us started. Well, that was such a tedious job! The stakes that go into the ground have clamps that attach to each bulb. They really don't fit all that well. I would get one attached, then move onto the next, and if I accidentally pulled the line too tight, it would cause the one before to pop out. After some trial and error, I finally got a system down that worked and finished the left side of the house. Then I go to plug them in to see how they looked, and I realized that I had the plugs backwards. I needed the end with the prongs to be closest to the house! So I had to pull them all up, turn them around and re-do the whole thing. I go to plug them in, and one bulb right in the middle is not working. No big deal, I'll just replace it with the bulb at the very end. So I do that, and it still doesn't light up! There was something wrong with the base! So I have to pull them all up again, take them to Home Depot and exchange it for a whole other box. So that basic little task of outlining one side of the flower bed took about 3 hours! Thankfully, Wayne helped me do the rest, and it looks pretty good. We're going to add to it every year. Next year is the outlining of the house!