Me? At the mall?

Ok, let me start by saying that I am NOT a girlie girl. I am not a mall rat, I do not enjoy shopping, trying on clothes is torture for me. But my SweetPea loves all that stuff and more. She loves wearing dresses, having her hair done, getting her nails painted. She thrives on the chaos and crowds of mall life and while she doesn't "get" shopping yet, she cannot pass by Claire's at the mall, beelines for shoe stores, and begs "Oooh... try this on mama! This be beautiful on you!"

But today... I wanted to make my family happy, especially with all the wedding drama going on right now. So I agreed to a mall shopping trip. I figured that it couldn't be all bad, a day out with both my sisters, my mom and SweetPea and PorkChop. And other than crabby kids at the end, it WAS a pretty good day.

big shoes to fill

Hubby sent me out with money for the express reason of buying something for myself. Trouble is, I am not a clothes shopper (even though I do need new clothes), I hate shoes (even though, I do need a pair for the wedding) and I refuse to use a purse (but at least I am considering a knapsack/wallet for our vacation). So I ended up treating everyone else. I bought SweetPea and PorkChop new shoes, something that they both needed. And ended up with name brands for less than $25 for both pairs. I treated SweetPea to her idea of heaven on earth, a small mall food court shop called Mac and Cheez. Thankfully, they had dairy free wraps so Porker and I didn't have to wait in another line. And I spent way too much money buying them some clothes for our upcoming trip.

So yeah, I didn't follow the "rules" but I made myself happy, nevertheless. And I made my mom and sisters happy by breaking out of my comfort zone and spending time with them. Now, unfortunately, they are talking about us doing this again next month. *sigh* Am I really ready to hit the mall again so soon? I need to be, if for nothing more than to have some family time.

Christmas countdown day 10- wreck the malls this Christmas season

If you don't listen to Twisted Christmas carols, then the title today probably isn't funny to me. If you do, then maybe you are lucky enough to have heard this parody to "Deck the Halls". If not, try finding it. It always makes me laugh because I am not a huge fan of malls and the idea of running amok in them during the holiday season just strikes me as amusing.

What else strikes me as amusing is how much my hubby wants to "do" Santa with the kiddos but how much he is against all the "traditional" Santa activities. You know... like going to the mall and waiting for about a billion hours so you can sit your young child on a stranger's lap and have them tell said stranger all their deepest hearts' desires. Which is ok with me. I would rather scrap the whole Santa bit all together after raising one child with a huge Santa phobia. But I digress.....

This afternoon, after all our normal errands were done, we took Pickle, SweetPea and PorkChop to the fabled place called "the mall" to see the Christmas decorations. Since SweetPea is really into viewing right now, we thought that this would be a pretty cool experience. And what baby isn't reduced to a staring, drooling puddle when confronted with Christmas lights? Well... apparently my two littles.

SweetPea had more fun finding the "moving stairs" and begging us to allow her to go on them "just one more time". PorkChop loved the crowds and the attention that he was grabbing but as for the decorations, he was happier listening to the Christmas music than taking part in the bright colored lights and spinning trees.

We still have planned an evening drive to see the outdoor lights before Christmas is upon us. I am hoping that without the allure of elevators, escalators, and strangers that our two youngest will more enjoy themselves.