Christmas shopping with the Ladies......... horrible littles, some times an hour is way to much Nannie time.

The Ladies and I were up and on the road to the Zoo by 7:30 this morning.  We had not all that much money but we decided to make the most of it.  The Ladies each had only about 30 dollars. We made our first stop the Goodwill store.  They also made note of what tag was the half price tags.   The Ladies went to shopping.  Their goal was to buy each of their three cousins next door and their two biological half sibs each an article of clothing, a nice one that each would like, or maybe in Eighths case his mommas (he is after all only two months old) The Ladies definitely have opinions on what they wanted to buy.  They found a piece of clothes for each and everyone on their list.  They only spent half of their money, a little difference for each of them.  They did not let that inhibit them, they determine how much each had and evened it up.  I had to tell them at that point I thought that was a very loving thing to do, they were sharing and sharing alike just because they loved each other and wanted each to have the same opportunity to buy something.  We went to Costco next and I got the groceries I needed, well the ones I wasn't planning on getting at Walmart. We then went to China Buffet to eat, they both wanted to go as we hadn't gone for awhile, and so instead of a guicky at Costco we got Chinese.  The man that gives all the littles candy, and has for as long as I have been going to China Buffet, gave them rootbeer barrels.  They really didn't remember him giving them candy before but I explained that he had for always and they thought that that was so kind.  We wished him a Merry Christmas as he left the buffet.

We made are way to Walmart the Ladies got to shop all by themselves and meet me at the front.  It was rather daunting for me especially when time dragged on but eventually they came, maybe sooner than my mothers mind thought it was and toward the end I was thinking I had made a mistake and someone had taken them but just in the nick of time the first one came into sit.  They both used the self check out with total efficiency.  One twice and the other three times, they had to go back for more once they determined they had more to spend.  I hate to use the self check out so I used the line myself......  I guess it's a generational thing maybe.  We had a great day and were back around 2:30 ish.  Shortly after returning home Mokie and her little girls came over, she had to leave and go pick up Boy and Flower from school.  She told me that the kids at pre-school liked the gingerbread men soap but there were only three kids there to give them to.  She had taken nine.  She had to go out to her car and when she returned they were all gone so some one must have liked them.

She was off to the school a little after 3.  The two little screamed the whole time, they don't like when mom is gone on mom's home days.  I tried to get them to stop and eventually had success with the baby but Cubbie was just horrible.  I let her scream the whole hour and told her mom not to bring her back anytime soon.  I told her to take her home and hug all the naughty out of her because apparently she had not been hugged thoroughly enough lately.  They left soon after.  The girls had been wrapping their gifts and wouldn't allow the littles in their room so that probably was the reason in the end for all the screaming but sometimes they just have to have things not their way.  Today was one of those, I am not sure my nerves can take it again but needless to say it will probably happen again, you know those naughty tantrums that plague all parents every once in a while.  Sometimes the only thing you can do is ignore them or you would kill them, today was an ignore them day thank God, I just didn't have the energy to redirect their attention.

My Ladies learned today the joy of giving in a new way.  This is the first year they truly do not believe in Santa.  We had talked about the spirit of giving being a gift from God, as was Jesus, and that that is the spirit we should have at Christmas.  Santa in his own way embodies that, I know to some of you I am being sacrilegious but isn't that how his spirit is?  He knows when you have been naughty of nice, as does Jesus, he gives love and many other things, as does Jesus, so I choose to see him as a being of God in his essence instead of putting an ugly demonic spin on Santa.  I am a half full person.  I don't think the my child's innocent and belief in Santa is teaching them evil, it is teaching them the spirit of love and giving and isn't that what Christ is?  I hope you have Christ in your life.  I pray that if you don't today is the day you seek him. ..... tomorrow.