Today was the day of the NOPF childrens Christmas party, so for all the families that work in Marks building. Mark had signed us up for it, he got a ride in to work with someone this morning so the kids and I could have the truck to attend. We spent the morning tidying up the house for the highly anticipated arrival of Nanny and Baba tonight then headed in town a bit early after lunch to do our daily random act of kindness before the party. Today we were supposed to leave a christmas egg hunt at a playground, I had it all made up with the plastic eggs and small bags of Halloween candy and a bucket for them to collect but the more I thought about it I didn't think this was a good idea (just to note I get my ideas from other people who have done this.) so we made a quick stop at the dollar store to come up with something else for that day.
Now something we have had to get used to here on Whidbey Islands that people take their dogs everywhere with them. Everyday we see tiny dogs in carts and strollers and sweaters and stuff, even in grocery stores. Seems crazy to us, back home there is no shirt, no shoes, no pets signs everywhere. I don't care, being an animal lover I think it's great... if your pets can handle it.
Bugs me to no end, these old ladies that dress their tea cup snoodles or whatever they are, up in ridiculous sweaters and hats and then put them in a shopping cart and expect children not to rush up to them. Yesterday at walmart we had such an experience where my kids saw this cute little dog, rushed up squealing... I tell you the owner just about had a fit. She hollered and threw her arms around her dog protectively and told my kids not to do that. I grabbed the kids, tried to smile politely (although for me it was probably more like an icy glare) and walked off the other way, without telling her that she shouldn't be so stupid because, news flash, if her dog bites my kids, it'll be her paying the price, might not be worth losing your dog for the sake of taking it shopping with you...just saying.
Anyway, there is my rant... What was at talking about? Oh yes, so today at the dollar store, was a first for us, this woman stopped and asked the kids if they wanted to see her special Christmas friend (as if that didn't have warning bells flashing in my mind) but then she proceeded to pull a little rabbit in a tiny Santa hat out of her purse. Normal? Probably not, but she was friendly and the rabbit was cute and certainly a welcome change from snooty dogs (and their owners) and the Santa hat was a nice touch. She said his name was squirrel, at first I thought she was telling me it was a squirrel, now that would be weird. You just never know what people have in their handbags.
After we freaked the poor Christmas rabbit out and he scurried back into his purse we continued our shopping, we thought it would be a good idea to make up a cupcake bucket to leave for someone. So we got some cake mix and icing and some christmas themed muffin cups and decorative toppers, put it in the bucket we had for our original egg hunt (we hate the egg candy) and before we left the parking lot we picked a car and left it on top. We saw they had a car seat in back so we thought it would be better to go to a family with kids.
Red bucket on the silver SUV.
We then proceeded on to the Christmas party, it was packed, I was not expecting so many people and kids jammed into such a small space. Neither myself nor the kids do well in loud crowded places. I found a Canadian wife I recognized and we staked our place amongst all these Americans at the kids colouring table and that's where we stayed. Finn came crying to me twice, once because some kids screamed at him and another time for a bonked head. Aislinn was crying and moping for the first half until finally her friend she knew showed up and then they were off playing.
The kids were very excited to see the man dressed up as Santa Claus, they knew he isn't real, Daddy is our Santa, but they were exited none the less! Especially when they each got a present.
How did Santa know?
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