Goodbye to Turkey Day and Hello Black Friday!

Well as most of you have realized Thanksgiving is over. If you have not realized it then we need to have you checked. We had a lovely day at Kristena's grandparents with her side of the family. Her side of the family includes two aunts with two husbands (not apiece) 11 cousins, one cousin in law and her grandmother and grandpa. It made for quite a crew. Her grandparents decided that there were to many people to crowd around two tables and so we split into several different crowds. Married more than 10 years and/or over the age of "40" (wink, wink) in the main dining room. Married less than 10 years and under the age of 40 still in the house but at the kitchen table. Everybody else ate in the garage. Including Kaitlyn and Tyler the two youngest and as of right now the only great grand children. Lauren was sleeping/screaming in the back bedroom as we all chowed down. A very efficient manner of seating and allowed the conversation not to go from the Disney channel to what ever current event was going on. It was great to get to know everyone a little better and the food was awesome. I did wonder how you plan to feed that many people. I think that it is like a bible lesson. Kristena's grandmother took one little ham and fed the 5,000 it was a really a miracle. The greatest miracle occurred later in the day when Kristena's aunt Kelley got her to actually play a card game. For those of you who know her Kristena has never been a card player but she actually held her own. The kids had a blast and they loved playing with "the cousins" who they had not seen in a long time.

The last turkey miracle I think was practical joke from the big guy upstairs. It snowed. After all of my bragging about the weather over the last two years God decided that he would finally listen to the prayers of my family and give me a what I had coming to me and it snowed. Now if all of you can manage to make that happen how about we use our powers for good and get that house in JAX sold. Come on people focus!

Another miracle occurred the day after Thanksgiving and my little, itty, bitty sister turned something... anyway it was her birthday. Now I would normally know how old she is by simply adding one to what she turned last year but truthfully a lot has happened and for the life of me I don't remember if she turned 30 or 31 last year. All I know if that she is crazy and she is my sister so I can say that. She will be here on Dec. 22ND don't tell Kristena its a surprise. Kristena loves surprises I am sure she will love having all of my family here through the holidays. (just kidding maybe)

In my recent tradition I braved the morning crowds and headed out for some sale items at Super Target on Black Friday. Now to understand how it went let's just say the store opened at six and I was home by 6:15. You wonder why would a smart, handsome and fairly intelligent person like me want with those types of crowds. All I have to say is "FLAT SCREEN TV". I convinced (berated and begged) Kristena until she finally agreed that this was a sound purchase. So got up and headed out into the cold and it was cold 37 degrees when I left the house and picked the side of the store where they were stacking them when we did out recon the day before Thanksgiving. As the doors opened we were off. I headed to where my intelligence had told me they would be stacked but alas they were not so I ran towards(lumbered is more like it) electronics. And there they were. But by the time I had shoved the two old ladies over in front of me the bearded women with the pierced eye brow and the breath that smelled like cigarettes and two day old coffee had tagged the last one. As I saw her bellow out to her toothless husband to back the house up to the door that she got the TV I became somewhat angry. Not just because she was picking her teeth that were in her hand with a piece of something she had pulled from her bra strap no it was that Target had not seen fit to make sure that there were enough of these deals to go around. So in an effort to salvage my morning I headed to the toy section where several parents were busy replacing the joy of Santa Claus for the children with the battle cries of "GRAB THAT ITS THE LAST ONE SON!" or "DID YOU SHE HER SHE TOOK THAT RIGHT OUT OF MY HAND". That's because these parents felt it was okay to drag their little ones out into the cold at 5:00 to stand in line with no coats to have them fight for toys. The worst situation was the new mom with her new baby no hat, no gloves who was standing in line in the 37 degree weather. I don't mean to judge but I think that there is nothing worth all of that. Kristena and I have decided that from now on we are making the kids and each other all of our presents out of left over pasta. I have made her a nice Macaroni necklace with a matching bracelet that I think she will love. I had to lick the sauce off it but that is love right?

So let's see so far we have Great Thanksgiving, Black Friday Blues, and oh.... I should inform everyone about my recent medical problem. It is not life threatening but is quite uncomfortable. It is most painful when I walk on it. It is called brace yourselves it is shocking "Dry Toe". It is an ailment that effects the big toe in my case on my left foot. It causes the skin to dry out to the point of cracking causing severe if not debilitating pain especially if your sock rubs against it. I am currently on an aggressive and hopefully successful treatment plan of lotion rubbed onto the affected area 3 times daily. It is a little embarrassing to whip my sock off at Applebee's but the Doctor said if I don't treat it could spread to my other toes and eventually cause "dry foot" which is harder to cure. Your prayer and financial support would be appreciated. I have contacted Benny Hinn ministries and sent in a dish towel to have him pray over it but have heard nothing back.

Well that is it. I need to perform the final treatment before bed and it is getting late. I thought I would leave you with a few pictures of the kids actually just of Lauren you parents know what it is like she is our shiny new penny and well we have a short attention span and forget to take pictures of the other two. Kaitlyn is doing great and school and got straight A's for the first nine weeks. Tyler is still trying to convince the world that Christmas should be pronounced as "CHRIST" mas. Maybe he will be a preacher someday. Little Lauren is crawling all over the place and has a little cold. Between her cold and my Dry Toe we sure have had it rough these last couple of weeks. Well I am off to bed. Hope you all had your fill of turkey over the holidays and found one thing to be thankful for.

PS Please quit praying for the snow and cold weather it was funny at first but not so much now!