A Day with Our Kids

We just had the most freaking awesome day ever with our kids.  

Today was our Christmas celebration with them.  They came for dinner with us, and we had good conversations--several at one time, sometimes.  

Then it was on to the presents.  There have been some years in our family when Christmas has been rather lean.  Not so this year.  Not only were we able to spend some extra money on the big kids and Cubby, we were able to spend a little extra on each other.  This was not a “socks and underwear” kind of Christmas!

Although, I did actually give Captain a new, higher quality union suit than what he normally wears, and it is blue instead of red this time.  

Captain is famous for being frugal.  Part of that is just his nature, part of it is what he was used to, and part of it--now, I think--is a point of pride for him.  And I get it.  You can’t go around spending money willy-nilly or you’ll get in trouble.  But sometimes, it pays to spend some extra pennies for a higher quality product.  Like a union suit, since he wears them every day in the winter.  

As you know, Captain spent several days this fall wiring our garage.  I must say having lights out there has been a real plus for me so I’m not driving into a dark building after bowling.  We know how well I like the dark!

Because there is electricity, one of the gifts I got--which I asked for--was a garage door opener.  Can’t WAIT for that to get installed!  Asking for an expensive, yet practical, item is not outside my wheelhouse.  I’ve been known to do that in the past.  One year for my birthday, I asked for and received fog lights for my truck.  I was thrilled then just as I am now with the garage door opener.  

And my kids--bless their little pea-picking hearts (that’s Tennessee Ernie Ford for all you young whipper snappers out there)--went together and bought me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  I’ve never been able to justify the cost to myself even though I’ve had mixer envy after my good friend got one a few months ago.  

Making cookies with my old knock-off brand hand mixer was never pleasant, so I didn’t do it.  I am hoping...no, I promise...now that I have the stand mixer, I will be better at making cookies like any self-respecting Gramma should.  

But as good as all those “things” were, the best part was yet to come.  Captain had won a gift card to Scheel’s at a farm meeting he attended a week or so ago, so after a short, minor debate, we packed everybody up and headed to Rochester.  Mama Bear had never been to Scheel’s, so it was fun to see her take in the overwhelming amount of stuff in the store.  There was a motorized scooter for Young Man to use so he wasn’t hopping around on his crutches.  The men headed off to the second floor where Captain could check out the ice fishing gear as he had decided to use his gift card for a new thingiemadoo for his ice auger.  The estrogen contingent headed for the clothing section; specifically, swim suits.  

My family will be gathering at the Water Park of America this coming weekend for our Christmas celebration, and everyone but Princess needed new swim wear.  We perused the toddler selection for swim wear and had to use one of Young Man’s crutches (which were in the cart while he zipped around in his cart) to get one suit down from the top rack.  

Mama Bear found a suit for Cubby and on sale!  It doesn’t get better.  Then we cruised over to the women’s swimsuit section.  I probably could have gotten by without getting a new suit, but the current suit I have is a halter/shorts combination, and I was getting bad mental images of me coming down a water slide at however many miles-per-hour and have the top go off over my head.  No one wants to see that!

Mama Bear and I both found new suits--YAY--and we headed off to find the guys.  They were just coming back from the second floor, but we headed back up there since Mama Bear hadn’t seen that area yet.  

That’s when it got fun!

We stopped and did the duck shoot game, we checked out the ice shacks, and the kids played some buck/deer hunting game.  We looked at little teeney tiny softball gloves for Cubby but decided it was a year too soon for that.  We looped around through the treadmill section, back past the snowshoes and outerwear, and then over to the bowling lanes.  

Princess discovered that her cousin and aunt were also at the mall, so she texted them to meet us at Scheel’s.  They found us as we were perusing the compound bows and we spent a half hour or so catching up with them.  

By the time we left the store, it was full dark and we had spent nearly or over two hours there!  Cubby was a trooper and even though she was wiped out and hungry, so wasn’t fussy.

Back at home it was leftovers from dinner, clean up the kitchen, and everyone headed home.  

I can’t tell you how blessed we felt that our grown children were willing and happy to spend the whole, entire day with us.  There is nothing that makes a parent happier than that.