Christmas Tree Lighting

The other night I was taking Kynzi to a friends house for an overnighter birthday party. On our way we drove past Riverfront Park and there were a ton of people there, lights and a TV camera crew. I had no idea what was going on. After I dropped off Kynzi I decided to drive back past the park. There was still a pretty big crowd. If you know me, I can't not pull in and see what's going on.

After driving around looking for a parking spot a police officer on a bike told me I could park right up front! Sweet! I carried Haak and Nyah out to see the lighting of the Christmas tree! It was pretty cold outside, but holding my two babies kept us all warm. We stood around for a while. A lady came up to me and said, "Sir. You have the most beautiful babies in the world! You are so blessed." (smile...I know!)

Suddenly a fire truck came with lights blazing. Then they hoisted Santa Claus up on the ladder. Very cool. They raised him to the top of the tree where he placed a dove. Then we had a 10 second countdown and they lit the tree.

Cheers all around. Santa came down and handed out candy canes. We squeezed our way to him and then ran into some old friends who just moved back from 5 years in San Diego.

They told me they would never get near Santa at a lighting of the Christmas tree in San Diego. It's part of what they love about Oregon. After chatting for a while I saw that Santa was still around and no one was around him anymore. So we took a quick pic with him. Nyah was OK with, Haak was not impressed. Haha. It was cool.

I love being able to take little moments like that, especially when they are totally unplanned. I often live life with little margin and I love when I have plenty of margin. This night I was in no rush to get anywhere. I prefer to be in that kind of place. It's good. It's good for me. If I am having to run from one thing to another and not have room to breath I know I lose out along the way. I don't want to do that. I want to breath, even though I love the hustle and bustle.

So, because I am in a season of margin I got to do something fun, cool and spontaneous with my babies!

Have you been to a Christmas tree lighting in your town?

Have you done something spontaneous recently?

Getting up early to get in line?

Have you ever stood in line for something so you can be one of the first ones to "get it" or to "experience it?" Maybe it was standing in line to get tickets for Star Wars. Maybe you camped out at Best Buy overnight so you could get all those incredible deals. Maybe it was trying to be one of the first 250 to get a chance to get on Survivor. Yes, I am in all those camps.

For me, a big part of it is the experience with friends. It is an adventure and fun to do with others. it is also fun to be part of the "hunt." Well, This morning I got to experience a new one. And I gotta be honest with you, it is the super bargain hunter in me that caused this slightly embarrassing journey:

You see, Jeanne-Ann and I went to Old Navy last night as part of our "finish our Christmas shopping and then go on a date to a guy movie night." Well, the lady there told us that today (Saturday) they were having a huge sale and we could come back and get money back on what we bought last night. She also told us that the 1st 50 people in line would get a bracelet good for 4 movie passes if we spent $20 and she said the doors would open at 7. soooo....you know me. I love a good bargain.

I called Steve and he agreed to go. We got up and left the house at 6AM!!! to get in line. We got there about 6:20 and we were the 1st ones in line...(I kinda felt dumb, but it was fun to do with Steve). So then we put our chairs at the doors and sat in the car until two ladies got there about 6:40. Then we proceeded to wait in the bitter cold. That was when we saw a sign saying they opened at 8! The ladies had heard it was at 7 as well. I asked them if they were told this by a short Latino lady and they said yes and I started to get really mad.

Right at 7 Claire Allen, a former student of mine, shows up to open the doors right at 7 and I was like, YES!!! Unfortunately she said they didn't open the doors till 8. UGH!! So we ran over to get some Starbucks in the Mall and warm up a little.  We then walked back over and saw about 8 people in line
and at about 7:10 Claire came back out with another employee with bracelets and said we didn't have to wait in line anymore and could come back and get our stuff at 8.

Then we went back in and finished our drinks and got our pic with Santa in the Mall...and yes, we got our 4 movie passes and $5 thermals!!!!!!

(ask me sometime about how Santa tried to "extort" money from me)

Another "camping out" experience in the books.