Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with more food than I could imagine at Charlie's cabin. It was a white Thanksgiving for us but luckily no additional snow entered the mountains while we were visiting. Movies were watched, a tree was decorated, and lots of wonderful food was consumed. Joe and I came back to Seattle on Friday afternoon. I headed downtown to immerse myself in the hustle and bustle of black Friday while Joe went to work. Friday evening was the lighting of the Christmas tree at Macy's. Although the tree wasn't as big as Rockefellar Center and there wasn't an ice skating rink underneath, the ceremony still brought out the Christmas feeling. There were songs sung by a choir group as the ever growing crowd waited patiently (and some impatiently) for the countdown. There is a big star that lights up at the front of Macy's along with the Christmas tree. After all the lights were on, fireworks illuminated the sky above Macy's. I was standing amongst lots of families and the kids were just taking it all in. As quickly as the fireworks went off, people quickly headed back into the stores for more shopping.
On Saturday I got our apartment in the holiday mood as I dug out (and I mean I had to dig!) for our Christmas decorations. Nala has already found her favorite to knaw on and my pretty gold present box currently has a T-shirt draped over it to avoid any more kitty teeth imprints. I found myself wandering another Mall Saturday night. We're doing quite well with our Christmas shopping but I find that I like to just wander about in the mall and take in all the shopping frenzy.
This evening Joe and I enjoyed the light show at Bellevue's Botanical Garden. It's amazing to see the creativity of lights done in vineyards, under the sea, and flowers galore. More Christmas cheer was felt near the shopping area as there were toy soldiers walking around on stilts, people dressed up as polar bears, and Christmas music blaring from the outside speakers. As the weekend comes to a close, I'm filled with lots of holiday cheer and my game face to make it the next three weeks until Christmas vacation. Gotta love the school calendar!