It’s that time of year. We eat until we drop on Thursday and then we can go shopping early on Friday. I actually got up one year to help my Mom and Dad find Furbys at WalMart. Got up really early, went to Walmart, got in line, and no Furbys. Never again I said.

Now we can just go online: Amazon Black Friday Deals Week has already started.

When my Little Guy was even littler, shopping online turned out to be the best way to go. Plain brown boxes arrived from Amazon and I could open them and wrap the presents inside late at night after he was asleep. I’d then put them back in the shipping box and tape it shut. Those shipping boxes came out on Christmas Eve and “Santa” would leave their contents under the tree for the good little boys and a girl who were sleeping peacefully in the other room.

Actually, that’s my tip of the year. Wrap the gifts as you buy them. I used to wrap everything on Christmas Eve and it was a lot of work, many times until the wee hours of the morning to get everything wrapped. By wrapping as you acquire the gifts, Christmas Eve work is no more than retrieving the wrapped gifts from wherever you have stored them and placing them under the tree. Then you can sit back and relax until bedtime, waking refreshed in the morning and really able to enjoy those excited little faces.

Yay Joe!

We walked in two parades on July 4th with Joe and we’re really glad he won. Melissa Bean has conceded.

Here’s a picture of Hubby with Joe at the Antioch, IL Independence Day Parade.

Congratulations Joe!

More from the Chicago Tribune.

Armistice Day, Veterans’ Day, Remembrance Day

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month…

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)

Too, too funny. Beverage alert.

An extra hour of sleep tonight! Set your clocks back at 2 am Sunday, November 7th. Or set them back before you go to bed tonight. For those that like to party, it’s an extra hour in the bars as the 1am to 2am hour will repeat.

And don’t for get to change batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Especially as we move into winter with our furnaces on and our homes all closed up to keep the heat in. It’s looking to be a cold one this winter.