Photos from St Charles Santa Parade

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is spending a December Saturday in St Charles MO. It's officially called "Christmas Traditions" but we call it the Santa Parade, as it's easier to explain. Basically, Christmas characters from different parts of the world roam the streets, passing out trading cards, and posing for photos. Then, there's a parade and performance later in the afternoon. Here are a few photos of our fun day. More are posted on Facebook.

Lights Fantastic

Here are photos from Carbondale's annual Lights Fantastic Parade. It was a bitterly cold night--we'll be better prepared next year.

More Thanksgiving Weekend Fun

We're enjoying our time away from our normal routine at Trout Lodge. Sadly, we leave tomorrow.

We started Thanksgiving Day with pony rides for the girls. CeCee and Doodle are already plotting their first trail ride once they turn seven.

Later, Princess the Clown visited the lodge for more face painting.

Dinner was the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauces, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Each table had our own spread, and they even gave me ziplock freezer bags to take home the leftovers. (Yes, how I love leftover turkey sandwiches!)

This morning, we went to Mrs. Claus' tea party, and of course Santa visited us. These pics are just the highlights; you can find more on my Facebook album.

Over the River and Thru the Woods...

Today, we crossed the Mississippi River and drove through the Ozarks to reach Trout Lodge in Potosi, MO, our family's traditional Thanksgiving hideout. Although we don't live much farther away than in St Louis, we had to snake through the backroads to get here, so it seemed to take twice as long!

We've been coming to Trout Lodge for Thanksgiving (and also Memorial Day weekend) ever since Louie was born. We eat the same foods and enjoy the same activities, but because we only come here twice a year, it's always exciting.

Today was pretty low key--pack, drive, and relax. The girls had their faces painted and played. We're resting up for the big day tomorrow.


Here are the girls modeling their face art. Doodle has a seahorse, CeCee a full butterfly face, and Louie has a dolphin.

Is it Really a Sale if You Have to Buy 8 of Them?

In finishing up my Christmas shopping yesterday, I visited Bath & Body Works to get a couple of lotions to stuff inside another present. Now I admit that I'm an infrequent customer; I like their products, but their sales model annoys the (insert the hot place of your choice here) out of me. This visit only reinforced my opinion of them.

Like Kanani, I love coupons, and I have one for $10 off a $30 purchase. I figure I can buy my gifts and maybe a little something for me. But then I start looking at the prices. I remember pulling an $8 price sticker off a bottle of lotion to use as a gift I mailed off last month (I bought the lotion a while ago, on sale, but still). Now that same lotion is listed at $10.50. My favorite body butter used to be $9, and now it lists at $14! I know inflation is hurting everyone, but I fail to see how this improves business. Next to the overpriced signature collection, there is a promotional sign: "Sale! 7 for $35". I only need two or three bottles, but at $10.50 each, it's obviously "cheaper" to buy seven. I suppose I can stock up for future gifts and for the all of next year. I pick seven of my favorites.

At the register, the clerk informs me that the body butters and washes are not part of the promotion, even though they are on the same display :-(. I go back and have another look; the sign does say that, but in very small, faint print. Guess I'll stock up on still more lotion. I also find a cute, tinted lip gloss, so I add it to the armload and head back to the register.

When I reach the counter, I can't find my coupon! I see a stack of $10 off coupons sitting right next to the clerk at the register.

"I have a $10 off $30 purchase coupon, but I can't find it," I say. I drop my bags and dig through my purse full of receipts, gum wrappers, and tic tacs. I find some fruit snacks and an unopened sucker from Halloween, but no coupon. Maybe if I bribe her, she'll give me one from her stack.

She is just standing there, looking at me. I can't believe she isn't going to offer me one of her coupons sitting just inches from my hand!

"Guess I'll have to come back after I find my coupon," I say. I close my purse and gather up the other shopping bags.

She finally caves, "Actually, today, we're giving out $10 off coupons with every purchase. If you buy just the lip gloss, I can give you a coupon to use on the lotions."

"Okay." I smile and hand her the gloss. She rings it up, then hands me the coupon. I half expect her to ask me if I want a bag for that! As she rings up the seven bottles of lotion, she adds, "Would you like another bottle of lotion. With this promotion, it's buy 7, get 1 free."

Of course I want my free one. Now I have eight bottles of lotion for $27.70, including tax. If I get invited to a gift swap this holiday season, I'm ready. Oh, and I found another $10 off a $30 purchase coupon in the bottom of my shopping bag; I might have to go back for some Fredric Fekkai.

A Colbert Christmas -- A New Tradition?

James and I watched this on Sunday night. It might not have been the best Sabbath activity, but it had us rolling with laughter. Here are a couple of our favorite songs; you can see the rest on Comedy Central's Website.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: Jon Stewart

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: Toby Keith Sings

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Deer Season

I've seen a few SUVs with this "camo-wrap" driving around. I wonder if they make one for the Toyota Prius--what a great Christmas present for James :-)

It's the opening weekend of Deer Season in Illinois. On Friday, Walmart was full of small groups of men pushing shopping carts full of assortments of snacks, ammo and camo-style clothes. I've never seen anything like it. I overheard a discussion of whether anyone could open a can of soda quietly. ("Ain't no way I'm drinking water out there," one guy said. The consensus was he could drink "pop" if he brought a bottle and opened it before going out into the field so the fizz wouldn't make any noise.) Surprisingly, no one had any beer in their carts.

We've seen a lot of hunters around our "neighborhood," scoping out places to hunt. I'm a little glad it's freezing cold outside--I don't really want my kids playing outside this week. Some of these hunters were scoping land much too close to houses, IMO.

I'm learning just how widespread the hunting culture is. I saw a little of it growing up in Arizona and Idaho, but because my dad wasn't a hunter, I guess I didn't notice the excitement surrounding deer season beyond getting a four-day weekend off school for the opening weekend. The pic on the side came in a catalog addressed to the former owner of our home (the USPS doesn't forward catalogs, so we can peer into Fred's shopping habits). I can't imagine anyone wearing this in a thicket for 12 hours waiting for a buck, but who knows? Or maybe this is for the gal who is waiting for her man to bring home a 12-point rack and wants to have fun later--no idea.

Updates on the House

I've meant to post photos of some of the work I've done on the house, but never seem to think about it until a room is too messy. Yesterday, CeCee was home with me being sick (Wednesday, she was genuinely sick with the stomach flu, this time it was the not-really-sick-but-not-quite-well-enough-to-go-to-school-until-the-bus-has already-left kind of sick), so her job was to clean the toy room. And luckily, I remembered to take a photo during the 5 minutes or so that it was tidy.

My biggest project this month has been window treatments. The previous owner built this house himself, and gave the house some lovely, large windows. Unfortunately, he was also a single guy and he loved vertical blinds. I HATE vertical blinds. They're ugly, they're flimsy, and they have no insulating value at all. When our recent cold spell (please tell me it's just a cold spell and not that will suffer through this all winter) hit, we learned that we need more than vertical blinds to keep the house comfortable, so I had the license I needed to drape the whole house. The big windows in the great room presented some challenges. There are two french doors flanking the fireplace, with no room for a panel in the middle. With decorator's fabric being so expensive, I chose to buy lined panels, then rip out the seams and customize them to fit the windows. It was about the same amount of work as sewing them from scratch, but I do like the end result. The pics below are the great room, but I've done the same process with the bedroom and basement windows--all are oversized.