Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was relatively busy because my mom was in town. When my mom comes into town, I'll just tell you--things get crazy. My mom and I have a very similar Type A personality that keeps us on the move all the time and when we get together, things get hairy in a hurry. In fact, we pretty much know that we have to live at least 3 hours away from each other at all times so that our lives are not in constant turmoil ALL THE TIME.

Anyway, on Friday, mom fixed dinner for us down at my grandmother's house, so we went down and ate fried chicken and creamed corn and coleslaw and knocked about 5 years off of our lives. It was truly delicous though. Then we spent the night looking at old photos and laughing like crazy. Let's just say the 80's and early 90's were not that kind to my mother, and especially, her hair.

On Saturday, we went to a Christmas parade in a nearby city. This is a tradition with my mom and I--we have gone every year (that I have lived in the area) since I was 1 year old. In fact, my mom can probably tell you an interesting anecdote about every single year. For instance, we pulled into a parking place and she goes, "We parked in this same spot when you were 3. And I locked my keys in the car." Nice. The parade is your typical holiday parade with lots of goofy things and then Santa coming in on a big firetruck. The kids liked it, especially Alice, who really enjoyed the motorcycles. We bought some cupcakes from a downtown bakery and had bento boxes for lunch. After the parade, Alice and Sam promptly fell asleep in the car, so Mom dropped me off at the mall, and I went and brought some bras. We will discuss this later, ladies. In vast detail. Let's just say I have a new lease on life after the experience. It was uplifting. And yes, that pun was totally intended.

Then we drove to the Bristol Motor Speedway in Lights. If you live anywhere close to this area of the world, you know about this thing. It is basically a huge light show in the Nascar track and is gigantic and fun and holiday spirited. We go multiple times a year. My son, Sam, loves it, mostly because my mother is a crazy person and lets him drive the car and she races the lighted cars and things around the track. Insane. They also have a "Holiday Village" in the middle of the track, and it has funnel cakes and marshmallows for roasting and Santa and rides for the kids. After having all the holiday joy we could stomach, we left, took a quick detour at Target, and then headed home. I fell asleep while Matt gave me a much deserved back massage.

On Sunday, my grandmother was going to fix Thanksgiving dinner, but she had a close friend pass away, so we all decided just to go to dinner out. She was ok with that. We had a great time visiting with my uncle and his wife and eating at The Chop House, which is just delicious. Here are a couple of pictures I snapped:

The above is Alice, of course, and she was REMARKABLY good during this meal. So much so that people came to our table and commented. I wanted to say, "No, she is an evil genius, and she is just PRETENDING to behave in order to enact her future plan which involves world domination and an unlimited supply of Kleenex to shred," but I refrained. The other picture is of my mom and Gabby, and my mom would most certainly be upset that I posted it because it is not the best picture of her. I would counter by reminding her of the pictures that we saw this weekend. And the fact that I have a scanner. Do we really want to go there, Mom? Just ask Alice. I'm a mean girl with embarassing pictures and a free blogger account. Don't mess with me.

After lunch, we took a quick detour to the bookstore and to Ulta, and then I dropped mom off at the airport and the kids and I drove to Target (AGAIN) and Starbucks and then went home. We were all tired, but I spent the evening trying to straighten up because our living room looked like a goat exploded and there was a crazy amount of laundry. It.NEVER.ends.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and is slowly (but surely) getting into the holiday spirit!