Little Bits: PROMO

Berserk got revved up a notch on Thanksgiving before it slowed to that hospitable calm that I so enjoy. Mostly because when I finally went to hit the sack at about 2 am, Alysse decided her late afternoon nap deserved a 2:30 am encore.

That never ended until naptime the next day.

About 7 am or so I decided that I might as well take her out to run a few errands. I couldn't be mad at her. After all, I was the busy one who let her sleep far too long plus I mean-- really??

Breakfast number two or so. No wonder Daddy calls you our ray of sunshine, sweet face.

To be honest, I really enjoyed the {sleep deprived} time with just her. She was so funny, pointing out things in the grocery store. Asking to grab my hands so we could dance, her with quite the wiggle from her perch in the buggy. On our way to turn in late library books I noticed she was nodding off. Hold UP, girlfriend. You'll be going down for a real naptime today when I need to finish Thanksgiving prep! I handed her some crackers and then had an urge, one of those urges that you got as a college student who had stayed up too late again. One of those urges that means you're tired, not hungry, but you can't go to sleep now so you find yourself craving something like pizza or cheese sticks or run for the border {evil} deliciousness.

Me? That morning, I wanted an Egg McMuffin in the worst way. Haven't had one of those in a million years, want one now... worst way!

When I got to the drive-thru window I realized I was out of cash. A further look confirmed that when Joe had run some returns for me the day before he hadn't yet put back my check-card. Uh oh... me and my craving were broke.

I apologized to the cashier and she smiled, "Hey, this one's on us. Happy Thanksgiving!" I looked down at my receipt and it screamed PROMO in big, happy letters. How delicious.

The big girls woke up to this breakfast picnic, inspired from another friend's blog.

Little bits:

:: I didn't mess up the turkey! PRO-MO! Best of all, I really think everyone felt welcome and at home. Several of the students stayed late, talking and laughing and playing some mean rounds of Taboo. Go Team Big Bird.

::Our digital converter box doesn't work here, so there was no football. But who needs it when you've got a trio of entertainers poised and ready? Alysse "bess'ing" (blessing) everyone and hamming it up when she was sure all were watching, Hope coloring everyone pictures and telling stories, and Maddie-- oh, Maddie.

Two favorite moments of the night... I made these small cards with words of thanksgiving on them and asked folks to share, if they wanted to, as it related to their card. One guy shared deeply about a hard season in his life, and it was quiet as we took it in. Maddie, a VERY inexperienced whisperer and PROUD potty goer, breaks the silence with-- "Hey, I just tooted!" A close second has to be a comment following a discussion of whether or not our turkey was dead or alive, "Mommy, were all of our turkey's little friends very sad?" Cue the explosion of laughter from us all!

Add to this some gravy, apple cornbread stuffing, cinnamon lattes, four loaves of homemade bread with pumpkin butter, apple cider and all that the others contributed... mmm, turkey to the coma.

::One young woman so won the affection of our girls to the point that they actually told me they wanted to play the game of "Guess Who" with her, not me. I won't lie, it stung for a minute. Then I remembered that feeling of looking up to the cooler, older-but-younger girl and I must say as far as that goes-- my girls have good taste. Later that night they made up for my momentary hurt feelings as I put them to bed and they snuggled up with sweet words and big compliments. Promo, growing up girls, promo.

I love that others see how much fun you are to be around.

::Friday didn't mean sales, it meant lots of neighbors putting up their Christmas decorations! The girls were enthralled, so much so that Hope spontaneously colored a picture and had to take it across the street to say thank you for the blow ups. Afterwards we got up in the attic where I found a fun something else that the girls just had to try on.

Watching the construction zone.

::That spurred me on, while everyone else went for a walk, to quickly finish cleaning up the fall decor so I could break out Christmas movies, books, and stuffed animals. A switch on Pandora to Bing Crosby and the hooray cries made my night. Plus, I mean-- really?? Only little kids actually shout the word, "Hooray!"

We couldn't resist putting up the girls' little white tree. Then we lit it up, hid in the closet and jumped out to surprise Alysse who had been downstairs with Joe. She was pretty stoked.

Amazingly it is that time to break out all the glittery decorations, to wrap the presents, to bake, and to make new memories. But it's also time to bottle up the thankfulness of the holiday just celebrated so we can do something even more important.

Give.

Hoping our little family of five can bring a spirit of promo to the people around us... out of our love for the baby who was born to bring it to all of us in the first place.

~Katrina