Ride the Train, See the Lights

We took one little boy who is crazy about lights, trains, and lights on and around trains on a train trip downtown to see the Christmas lights.

Waiting at the station means seeing trains come and go, which was lots of fun.

It was cold and misty, but the lights were beautiful even in the fog.

We tried our best to keep Draper warm as he was missing Carrie.

And took lots of pictures of Dynna and Ryan keeping each other warm that are destined for their wedding video.

At the end of our tour of lights poor Zeke was frozen and ready to go home. He was generally disagreeable until we told him we were going to ride the train again, which made him very happy as he shivered. It was a memorable night he's been talking about ever since.

Have a Nifty Thrifty Christmas

Before Thanksgiving we decided to put our spending plan on a budget. With debts we want to pay off and things we want to save for, it was time to really control more regular expenses like grocery shopping and hobby spending. It's been one of those 'growth experiences', the kind that are difficult but beneficial. There have been some growing pains, but I have learned a lot.

I've discovered that I have more food storage than I thought. It's not much, but there were a few things in my pantry that I had been avoiding, mostly because I wasn't sure what to do with them and didn't want to take the time to find out. It really didn't take long to figure it out and now I wonder why I didn't do it sooner! I have also been reading my friend Heather's parsimonious blog, which has me thinking about new and creative ways to save money.

We did most of our Christmas shopping with cash back from the credit card we want to pay off. I think our Christmas gifts get fewer every year, and our Christmas joy and peace and love get larger every year. To me this is a direct correlation. Giving gifts to the people we love is important to us, and keeping it simple means we feel love and not stress.

Aaron got a gift card for an office supply store; a 'thank you for spending a lot of money in printer toner at our store this year' sort of thing. So we went shopping for office supplies and Aaron had his spreadsheet out to record all of our potential purchases and calculate the tax, wanting to use the whole gift card without spending anything extra. When he paid for his order, the cashier was stunned that the total was exactly the amount of the gift card. I'm still impressed, and we were both exhilarated. It was fun to accomplish something like that.

I guess we're taking 'cheap thrills' to a new level.

Tis The Season

There's something wonderful about Thanksgiving weekend. The chance to be with family, the good festive food, and gratitude and reminders of how blessed we are - which is a great way to begin the transition into the Christmas season.

For the first time this year, we had Thanksgiving at our house, just the 3 of us. We cooked a turkey and potatoes and pies and had a great time together. (And that turkey will continue to feed us through next week!) Thanksgiving Day was a beautiful day for a walk and to just be together.

Friday we put up and decorated our Christmas tree.

And we did all of our Christmas shopping, plus grocery shopping for the next couple of weeks. All on a very tight budget (thanks to those turkey leftovers, plus Grandpa A's potatoes and carrots).

The rest of the weekend allowed for plenty of time at home, for finishing our decorating, and for wrapping our presents.

And we continue to enjoy every magical moment.