We had a great Thanksgiving in Cleveland with Scott's family. Well, they are MY family now, but you know what I mean. The girls loved seeing their Grandma Bamma, Grandpa David and Aunt Jennifer (she has princess hair!). Pat (aka, Grandma Bamma) made a super-delish turkey day feast, and we all ate way too much. Kate, true to her word, didn't touch the turkey and instead ate a bowl of cereal for dinner--nothing says Thanksgiving like Cheerios! Julia, to the surprise of, um, nobody, gorged on turkey before we even sat down to eat, and then spent her time eating the jello mold (I think that's what it's called--I generally don't touch those things, no offense to jello lovers out there). I'm not sure if she actually ate much of the jello--Grandpa David kept putting whip cream on it, and she would shove a forkful in her mouth and then demand "more cream, please."

The trip was full of wonderful treats--I was spoiled with basically an entire day off on Friday so I could shop with Pat and Jennifer. I knocked out a lot of holiday shopping, and I'm soooo close to being done--woo hoo! Mind you, we didn't get up at the butt-crack of dawn to begin our buying--and we still had to wait in line for an hour at Kohl's. But, it was so much fun. Jennifer was blessed by the parking gods that day, and at every single store we visited, she managed to finagle a parking spot right by the front door--go figure! Now, I love to shop, a LOT. It's akin to a spiritual cleansing and it gives me a drug-like high to find those super-good deals. What made it really special was the fact that I was with Pat and Jennifer--not many people are lucky enough to have the kind of in-laws that they actually want to spend as much time as possible with. It was a girls' day out in every sense of the word, and I was doubly impressed by Pat's can-do attitude--she was feeling a bit under the weather but didn't let that stop her for shopping until we felt like dropping!

Saturday morning was spent visiting Santa at this insane nursery in Strongsville, where Scott grew up. Now, I had been to this particular nursery before, but never at Christmas time. Holy shit--talk about a Winter Wonderland--it was crazy cool! This place is huge and it was decorated within an inch of its life--the girls were in total awe and seeing their excitement was priceless. We watched Santa arrive in the parking lot on a fire engine (his sled must have been in the shop, but still, a fire engine?). I was standing with Kate trying to take pictures of Santa, and listening to her as he approached the crowd brought tears to my eyes. She had her arms extended and kept saying "Santa, I here, Kate's here, I talk to you, yeaaah." I almost did the ugly cry.

Of course, almost as soon as we got in line to take pics, Julia was protesting and informing anyone and everyone that she was NOT going to sit with Santa. Long story short--we had to all get in the picture. Scott and I were not dressed for the occasion, but it was still amusing--I'm not one for doing the family photo thing on holiday cards, but I'm going to embrace the utter cheesiness of two overgrown adults and their offspring gathering around the jolly old fellow and include it in this year's greeting.

One of the biggest treats of our trip was reuniting with my long-lost friend Kathi. Okay, she's never really been lost, she's just been in Cleveland and we fell out of touch after college. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we reconnected via Facebook, and I got to hang out with her, her hubby John, and her unbelievably gorgeous daughter, Alex. Scott was sick, and the girls seemed like they were getting there, so I went solo to Kathi's house. WOW. To say it was fun to see her and her family is a ginormous understatement. Kathi was my roomie in college, and was always more of a sister than a friend. She and John stood by my side during some incredibly tough situations and I've always felt such sadness at the fact that we lost touch. I have to admit, I was nervous about seeing her--it had been 12 FREAKING YEARS, and who knew if we'd even have anything in common anymore, ya know? It still makes me uber emotional to think about--no surprise there, I know. I could go on and on and gush and gush, but I'll try to be succinct and wrap it up (must shower before the girls wake up)........besides the joy of seeing my friend/s, it was so cool to see that all the things I loved about Kathi in college are STILL THERE. She's as sweet and funny as ever, and artistically talented to boot. It was very healing. I've missed her so much and to see her during the time of year when we're supposed to reflect on what we're grateful for made it all the more poignant.

Have to run. Want to post some pics and must wash this mop before wakey-time.

Heart hug.