Turkey, Rock Stars and Parades

Thanksgiving weekend was a busy one for the 'Stuff' household. We had a nice gathering at Lady Di's sister's house for Thanksgiving. Our brother-in-law put out a sumptuous banquet as usual. He made three types of turkey and I had much of all three. I did save room for pie though. And by saving room I mean, I ate until I was miserable and then forced two pieces of pie down.

We ended up staying a little later than we had planned. After playing a few games of Catchphrase, we thought it was time to get the kids home and to bed. This was about ten o'clock in the evening. Our nephew then decided to bring out his Guitar Hero game. It was all over after that. We ended up staying until midnight. Number One Son got the hang of the guitar pretty quickly. You can see him in the picture above. Sweet Pea was a little too young to get the timing right and got frustrated when the game booed her. She did a good job dancing and being a groupie while others played, though.

Lady Di had so much fun that she challenged N1S to a 'rock off'. They each played the same song simultaneously to see who would rock it better. The scores were pretty close, but N1S edged Mom by about 1000 points. Too bad Lady Di.

At least Lady Di played better than her sister. I don't think she was able to finish a song before the game booed her off the stage. Her sister thought that singing the song while playing helped your score. Sorry, Sue, but I guess you just don't rock like you used to.

Later that weekend, our family journeyed to downtown Minneapolis for the Holidazzle Parade. We braved twenty degree temps and gale force winds to watch the lighted floats. This parade occurs every night until Christmas. We went on the first night and froze our butts because the floats were spaced so far apart that we kept wondering if it was over yet. I guess you never want to go on the first night.

Despite the cold, the kids enjoyed seeing the floats. Their favorite was the 'Wizard of Oz' float because the Wicked Witch rode a bicycle behind the float where everyone booed her. We met our friends and their kids to watch the parade. The cold must have brought the kids closer together, because they really got along well for just meeting. But, I guess that's what kids do best. The rock star and groupie are on the right.

We stayed in a hotel that night which was a rare treat for us. We did have to hide the basket of goodies left out by the hotel management though. I really couldn't afford a $4 Snickers bar. The next morning we all visited Macy's department store. And believe it or not, we didn't go to shop. Macy's eighth floor has a Christmas display every year and this year's theme was The Nutcracker. It had sixteen different displays with various animatronic people and animals moving around. We all enjoyed strolling through and taking in the spectacle.

After the Holidazzle on Friday and The Nutcracker on Saturday, I was exhausted by Saturday afternoon. Once we found our way out of the city we still had one more stop before going home. We pulled into the parking lot at Cabela's to see the fish, animals and goose calls. I saw a lot of things that would look nice under the tree this year. My wallet didn't see eye to eye with me though. Hopefully, Santa will get my letter.

We have had a pretty good start to our holiday season so far. I hope we can find time to see a holiday show or see Santa before Christmas. Next week, we decorate the trees. That's right, I said Trees.