Christmas with the Hodos

I got a text from Eva that said Ben had a little gift for the girls

and he really wanted to give it to them himself,

rather than just passing it along via TKD,

so I changed up my shopping plans, and we went in instead of just dropping the boys off.

Not surprisingly, I stayed and gabbed more than the 10 minutes I had allowed myself.

I gave up the Hobby Lobby stop, but still needed to run to Walmart.

But I didn't have time to run to Walmart and fix dinner by the time the guys got home. 

 I opted for Walmart.

And after the guys got home - we ran back to Walmart again because I am an idiot.

(they had gators ('crocs' to the rest of the world...) for $.50 a pair. I picked up a pair for each girl for next year, but completely forgot

 to look for any for the boys. who wear them even in winter to TKD... Jeremiah wore his last pair plumb out.

You'd think I would have thought to at least get him a pair... but no.    *sigh*)

After Walmart - again - we went to Sonic for half-price burgers. (using for the 4th time, our gift card :-)

I'd snagged a bag of Doritos when we were at Walmart the first time, so people wouldn't think they needed fries.

 (The cheaper of two evils, at least ;-)

I'd had the kids all grab their water bottles, since they charge for water.

(I guess I'm not a total idiot.)

After Sonic, we went to the Hodo's light show and stayed 'til it ended at 10:00.

Not being the weekend, they weren't passing out candy canes, so we didn't have that part of the tradition,

but I did have the thought to boil some water to bring and bought a pkg of hot chocolate mix on the 2nd WM trip.

Not being the weekend, we felt the freedom to stay as long as we liked, so it was worth missing the candy canes, but next year - I'll buy some...

They added an empty tomb and a cross scene, which, along with the addition of Amazing Grace, put a lump in my throat.

Tyler drove us home to a chorus of 'thank-yous'.

And that was a pretty good night.