Countdown: Six days

The weekend was a success!

Friday night's white elephant party was HILARIOUS. We took a funny tie and a pair of ceramic boots (I think they're planters, like to put plants in). We received a Christmasy jar and the ugliest tissue box cover I've ever seen. You fit it over the tissues, and it looks like a couch, only with tissues coming out the cushions. Yikes. I'd post a picture, but I already put it in our Sunday School room at church. I wish I could post a picture of the funniest present I've ever seen. Pastor Craig (youth/family/music pastor) picked it. It was a dark blue hat that says in bright yellow letters "Hemmorrhoids can be fun!" I guess I forgot that our host is a colon-rectal surgeon. He got the hat from one of his medical suppliers. TOO funny.

Saturday was great, too. We got a surprise visit from Erik, Amy, and Grace Buskard. They were on their way to a family Christmas. It was great to see them! They're living in O-H-I-O now. So, we got to catch up and have lunch with them. Then we took a long nap, which was also lovely. (I still can't believe we got both kids to sleep at the same time for that long!)

And then, we had our date! Our friends, Craig and Kathy (yep, the guy with the hat) watched both the kids while we went out by ourselves. It was SO nice to do that! We went to a place called Mojo's, which is a dueling pianos bar/restaurant. It was a nice little place in the center of downtown. And we got there early enough to see the beginning of the show and eat dinner, which was really yummy. We stayed for about two hours, and the music definitely got better during the second half. But it also got really vulgar after a while, which is part of the reason we left. (I realize it is a bar, but still. It was totally unnecessary stuff they were saying/singing. Sheesh.) Oh, and we were the only ones there not drinking alcohol. The waitress looked at us a little funny when we ordered water and Diet Coke. Ha! I wouldn't recommend going to Mojo's, especially after 8:30pm. Maybe lunchtime would be better? But all in all, it was a good time anyway!

And then Sunday was church, home, meeting, and caroling! We went caroling at a nursing home, which gave mixed emotions for me. It was nice to be able to bring some Christmas joy to the people there, but it was also so sad. There were older folks just sitting in their rooms hardly moving, looking absolutely forlorn. And I thought, I'm so glad my dad didn't have to be in a nursing home. I was nervous to have him home, but I would be so sad if he had to go to a nursing home just to sit by himself all day in a quiet, lonely little room. I'm glad God knew where Dad needed to be.

Well, I guess that's the update. This week, I'm trying to madly finish the gift for my parents. I hope it gets done! We'll have Christmas with them this weekend, so I'm on a deadline here! Does anyone want two kids for the week? :-)

-{lkr}