How goes it?  It goes better by the minute (well, other than the fact that I think I just ate cereal with milk that expired 2 days ago…OH YUCK).  All but the final pieces of candy are priced, meaning 3700 gifts are ready for display.  409 receipts are ready for eager little hands to pair with their shopping bags as they run into “The Shop”.  Of my 34 final (rather painful) tasks, all but about 9 are done.  The countdown to decorating is 11 days.  It sounds like many days, but most of Thanksgiving week can be crossed off.  Better said, “My husband might kill me if I spend another holiday working on Santa Shop”.  I need to beg just a few more volunteers and all 92 volunteer positions will be full.  The last of the “How did she find Webkinz for $5.00?” have arrived.  Sorry, Santa Shopper Industry Secret; I can’t divulge how one gets a Pretty Pony 4-pack for $4.66.  I’ll just say if you live in the Central Indiana Region and you are looking for 1/2 lb Hershey Bars or 1/2 Hershey Kisses…don’t bother…I’ve bought them all.  Greg’s cousin left a nice comment that said, “I wish you were in charge of our Holiday Bazaar.”  I chuckled at my response…Debbie, I would turn it into a Holiday BIZARRE.  You don’t want me.

But I do see the light at the end of the tunnel.  When Greg puts out the electronic Countdown Clocks in the lobby tomorrow, the buzz will begin.  I wish I could be there to hear the kids as they walk by the large clock.  Kids and the holidays…you just can’t get a better mix.

For those of you so kind to call and tell me to blog again…I’m grateful that you enjoy this little space.  Trust me, I miss it more than you do.  The camera is collecting dust, the bathrooms need some elbow grease, and I haven’t returned a phone call in over a week.  I feel like the worst Mother in the world right now, every night promising the girls to doze off with them at 8 pm for at least a week in a row once we reach the finish line.  As a SAHM I have to remind myself: it’s healthy for the girls to see me occupied with something OTHER than their every last wish.  At least once per year anyway.

Back to it, unless you think 2-ft long GINORMOUS Pixie Sticks price themselves.  OH, how I wish they would.  And for those of you wondering if you’ll bump into me on Black Friday, the answer is, “Over my dead body”.  I may never shop again.  Hope to meet you here again soon. Rested.  And maybe a little tipsy.  Oh yes, and if some nice Mom from your child’s school sends a little note, asking you to volunteer for something, please say yes.  I’m quickly learning that nothing makes my kids happier than to see me working at their schools.  Their little eyes just light up, even at their tiny little ages.  Do it now before they are tweens and cringe when they see us in the hallways!