Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Tree Fetching

Just one photo of Thanksgiving this year. With Mom still laid up with her knee replacement, I did the whole Thanksgiving meal. It was tasty! We went and picked up Grandma Andy, and it was just our family, Grandma, and Mom and Dad for our meal this year. It was a low-key, relaxing day. After dinner and clean-up, I got to sit down and work on our "Reading Room" puzzle with Kari. We got it done later that night--1,000 piece puzzle in less than one day--new record for us! 

Greg and I went out early at 6:30am the next morning (although, not as early as other years) to do some Black Friday shopping. We hit Fred Meyer for socks and other things, World Market for our $20 of gift cards for being in the first 100 people, Jazzy Bagels for some breakfast, Kohls, and Costco to finish things up. We do most of our shopping online, but it was fun to go out and get started. 

It was pouring rain that afternoon, but we went out to get our tree anyway. Blake came with us in his truck to get a tree for him and Lindsay. We paid the most we've ever paid for a tree, but we got the kind we wanted (8' noble fir), when we wanted to get it (the day after Thanksgiving). $50 felt like an outrageous amount for a tree until I heard that others searched and searched and ended up paying way more than that for a shorter tree. (The recession in 2008 hit nurseries hard, and there's been a tree shortage the last couple of years, which is driving prices up. Hopefully, more people planted not long after 2008, and we can get back to paying a reasonable amount for a tree soon!) Greg was a wet, muddy mess after cutting down our big tree with a big trunk and another one for Mom and Dad. We got it done!