The Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving came and went. It was very different this year. Ron invited me over to have dinner with him, the boys, our former neighbor, and his mom. Ron did all the cooking and cleaning. It was hard to sit there and not help but I did. I figured it would not kill him to have to cook and clean up after a family gathering.

About 6, I left and met Ben at his Aunt's house. They had made a Swedish potato sausage for Ben's birthday and wanted me to try it. Not too bad really. We stayed for awhile and then headed to Kmart. I wanted Shrek2 - they had sold out. We went to WalMart and I had them price match it. He bought Indiana Jones Monopoly.

When we got back to the apartment, it was time to start playing Monopoly. Ben really hates to loose - he lost the first game and had to redeem himself by challenging me to a second game. This time he was victorious. By the time we finished playing it was well after 3 am and we were going shopping at 4:30. We managed to stay awake.

This was Ben's first experience with BLACK FRIDAY shopping. He did really good. I stood in line in electronics for a camera as he went to get me a Christmas tree. He must have misunderstood when I said any color lights will be fine. He came back with a purple Christmas tree. He was kind enough to go get me the correct one. We switched places in the line so I could go find me a Cabbage Patch Newborn and my niece a few things. The line had not moved when I got back. He decided to help me out and find a closer spot in the line. If you don't know Ben he is well over 6 foot tall and over 200 lbs so for him to move into line most people don't say anything. Within about 15 minutes of him line jumping, I had the camera. We were done shopping.

Off to breakfast we went and back to the apartment. We made it back before 7 am. Nap time.

As Ben slept I put up my tree. Ventured out later in the day to buy ornaments and garland since the red I got from Ron was not quite the look I wanted.

Saturday the 29th was Ben's birthday. We had dinner at his sister's and played Monopoly. It was such a blast to get them to gang up on him with me. Poor guy, took him four tries to get around the board - we kept putting him in jail. By the time he made it around all the property but 2 had been bought. We called the game so we could play cards.

When we left his sister's we stopped by to get his "boy" who had been with his parents since Tuesday. That is one spoiled puppy but adorable.

Sunday evening Ben brought me home.