Christmas--it's what's for dinner

While I snuggled deep under covers with the cat working as a living heat pack (she vibrates too, what a combo!), my sister, her husband and our father all decided to, um, pop their Black Friday cranberry by hitting Wal-Mart in the largest city in this state.  I had my concerns about this--not for my sister and my unborn nephew/niece (oops, guess I let a big cat out of the bag on that one)--but for my father.  He's not frail, the man is a very youthful 50-something, but he is tall and like other big & tall people he learned early not to push and shove.  For us shorties pushing and shoving is sport, for tall people it is assault.  I flashed back nearly two years ago to the cruise around the harbor in Hong Kong that Chennie's parents bought us.  It was a cruise ship with a buffet line (there is a reason you don't find buffets in many places outside the US--not hatin', just sayin') and a dance floor.  We were the only pale faces surrounded my mostly mainlanders.  For those not familiar with Hong Kong or China, there are some significant differences between these two groups that goes beyond language and food preferences.  People in HK basically view the Chinese much like we mid-westerners view our Kentucky neighbors.  There are certain behaviors that the mainlanders participate in that the HK people find a bit offensive.  One of them is swarming.  Fortunately for me I had experience and I was able to throw elbows with the best of them to sample all the different foods.  Honestly a buffet with the Chinese is like 5 am at Wal-Mart on Black Friday. My poor father, the gentle giant, just stood there with his plate in his hands waiting for his turn at one of the many buffet tables.  By then I was on my second plate and heading back for dessert. 

So I obviously had my concerns.  My poor pregnant sister got slammed into a wall this morning when the doors opened, but my dad beat a path to the TVs with the best of them.  I wish they had taken photos because my sister's descriptions of the event were priceless.  She said there were overturned carts with TVs in them.  Others were dragging the TV sans-cart to the check out.  Oh, and the smarties at Wal-Mart in our illustrious capitol city thought it best to put the TVs in the frozen goods section of the grocery store.  What???  Personally I am glad I stayed home.

My sister called me high on shopping pheromones to brag about her conquests for the day and even started teasing me with "guess what I got you for Christmas?"  Ok, those of you that have read my blog posts from the last week probably know I don't handle that well at all.  Ok course, I pummeled her with "tell me!" Kind of like the zip it bit in this Austin Power's clip

In the background my dad starts to talk about my gift and to be honest I didn't hear a word of it, but I struggled to catch what he was saying.  Sarah heard my silence and then started yelling at Dad because she thought I had heard what he said.  She gets back on the phone and said something like "well, now you know that you are getting xyz and the surprise is gone".  That's when I started dying of laughter--until she told me I didn't have a clue what she had bought me!  Oh, that's the oldest trick in the book and she fell for it.  Let the Christmas games begin! 

I am Thankful for so many things this year.  I'm thankful for the pumpkin pie and summer sausage/cheese/Triscuit sandwiches I had for breakfast this morning.  And I am going to try and be thankful for the laps I am going to force my fat ass to walk today at the gym.  Actually, I am thankful for that as well.  I developed "runner's knee" about 6 weeks ago and have been in too much pain to walk or elliptical.  The joke is that I don't run, I just have really weak quads.  Like really weak, thank-god-one-of-my-best-friends-is-a-physical-therapist weak.  She wrapped them both last weekend and I have been using ibuprofen and ice (well, does having an indoor temp of 62* count as icing?  I wasn't sure). 

A lot has changed since last Thanksgiving.  Last Thanksgiving baby Haven was just a whispered hope that I shared with my mother.  Today he is a hope I shout out loud.  I look forward to the Thanksgiving dinner that I will someday share with both of my children when they are no longer my someday kids.   Where ever they both are today, I am still thankful.

A picture of the empty harbor cruise ship in HK. 

And pics from the top of the cruise ship. 

All lit of for the holidays.  I can't wait to go back!