Oh Black Friday.... The day of crazy holiday shoppers, grown-up temper tantrums, stampeding and selfishness..... Yes, I am not a fan of Black Friday shopping. In fact, until today, I have gone only one other time in my life. And that was in 2008 when, pregnant with SweetPea, I let my mom convince me to go to JoAnn's for their sale. Which, wasn't bad considering we went at 10am and got home around 2pm. But its just not my cup of tea. This year? I was all set to hit Jo-Ann's again and just kept loathing the idea. So I let my buddy, PorkChop decide. See... I refused to set my alarm. I figured that when he woke to boob around 530am or so, I would make a decision. Instead, he made it for me. For the first time, he wouldn't go back to sleep. Around 630am, I gave up trying and handed him to my hubby so I could shower before our long day. We left the house around 730 and left Jo-Ann's around 930. For two hours of our time, we saved $101 and spent $60. Not too shabby considering that I got what I needed to finish SweetPea and Peanut's Christmas jammies, get a good start on our unpaper towels and hubby got what he needed for his speakers.
After shopping, we headed north to have breakfast with my brother and his family. Pretty unremarkable, right? Hardly. See, my brother is from my father's first marriage. He is a bit older than me and my sisters and already out in the world when we really began to have memories of him. After my parents divorced back in 1985 (or 6), all contact ended. It wasn't until the spring of 2009 when I refound my brother and sister via facebook. This was our second time in over 20 years of getting together. Its a small thing that so many take for granted but for me? I am not one downplay the significance of family.
It was so wonderful getting to introduce Uncle T and Aunt R to their new nephew. It was so heartwarming to see J, my four year old nephew, keep touching PorkChop and saying with wonder "That's MY cousin." You could hear the possessiveness in his voice and see the emotion in his eyes. J and SweetPea hit it off so well that you would think that they lived down the street from each other, not 9 hours away. And while M was a bit disappointed not to have Punk there with us, promises of a "next time" help.
Our breakfast was too short but understandably so. I don't think that there will ever be enough hours in the day to spend catching up like I would like but those moments that ARE spent together make up for those apart. After breakfast, as they headed back to their home state, we headed across the mitten to celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends from across the pond.
It still amazes me to think that three years ago, I didn't know H and her hubby R. They were just "people" I had met on a message board dedicated to those of us pregnant and due in February of 2002. But through many months of talking, many moves for H and their family, they ended up not only moving to our state but becoming dear friends to our entire family. I am not sure that a day goes by that H and I do not touch base about something trivial or something monumental. And I have a feeling that SweetPea has met that in her "best friend A".
Even though they have only officially seen each other four times over this year, the girls are inseparable when together. Which, if you know two year olds, you know is pretty amazing. Our little ladies spent six hours together without a single fight, without a single tantrum, without a single tear (on their parts... mamas and daddies had plenty with the noise level). H and R cooked us a delightful dinner, introducing us to some English classics. They even introduced us to a game that I am sadly, I will admit, hunting down even now for our own collection.
Being so far apart, living wise, has its drawbacks. We had to leave well before the girls were ready to say good-bye and after many tears, "one last hug and kiss", we took a very sad SweetPea home with us and left a very sad sweet A home with her mummy and daddy. I know that it doesn't mean much to SweetPea, but the next few months are promising a lot of visit time since we will have three little girls in three different months needing birthdays.
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