Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Rayden's family in Branson. We scoured the Black Friday ads looking for the perfect deals. We ate a whole lot of delicious food. And we greatly enjoyed each other's company.

At midnight Tommy, Deanna, Rayden, and I were at Walmart (with everyone else in that region) waiting for the awesome sales to begin. I was shocked that Rayden joined us this year. I ask year after year if he'd like the brave the crowds with me, but his response is normally something like this..."I would rather gouge my own eyeballs out than do that." But this year the stars aligned just right I suppose and he joined us. I scored a Cricut machine, Rayden waited in line for a wii game that we gifted to Tommy for Christmas. And Tommy and Deanna scored some pretty sweet remote controlled cars. After a bit of browsing through Tanger outlets we were home and tucked into bed by 1:30am.

What did Aubri think of the experience? Well, I'm not sure they want her review!

Later that Friday we went for lunch and a show on the Branson Belle. My kids have been on this particular "lake cruise" with their grandparents before, but this was my first time. And let me add that this will have been my only time. It's not that the food wasn't good....it actually was fairly tasty. And although the entertainment was a bit cheesy, I did laugh quite a bit. My vowing to never set foot on the Branson Belle again has everything to do with a cruise they took only a week or so later. This boat took off for their afternoon cruise and got stuck....with no electricity....in the middle of the lake for over 24 hours. There are stories of the patrons ripping the curtains off the stage to wrap up in due to the frigid cold. Let me make myself very clear. I will N E V E R go on that boat again. Just thinking about how I would have reacted to that situation causes me to search for the nearest paper bag....or Xanax.

The weekend was fun, but over way too soon. Before we knew it we were headed back to Bolivar. At least we had some fun waiting for us....it was time to decorate for Christmas!