Princesses on Ice and Small Business Saturday

What a great long holiday weekend this has been! Our last-minute Thanksgiving at home turned out awesome! Even though we didn't get to see any of our family, we did have a great meal together just the five of us.

We spent Friday cleaning up the house and getting out all the Christmas decorations. It was so fun to come home today to a beautiful Christmas tree, a decorated house and a clean house! Bo and I had to rearrange the living room to accommodate the tree -- and we all really like the new layout. It seems bigger and more spacious, even with a 7.5 foot tree in it! Most of our holiday decorations were in the storage unit, so Shawn -- husband extraordinaire -- has made three trips there to find stuff for me. Unfortunately, he missed the tote with the tree skirt, extra lights and the most important decor of all, Buddy the Elf. He must make an appearance on Dec. 1 so we can threaten the children with him. :)

Today, my mom joined me and Violet for a fancy lunch at Centro downtown and then Disney Princesses on Ice at Wells Fargo. We had awesome seats, thanks to some discounted tickets from my niece Tori, and it was really fun to watch Violet's amazement at the start of the show. As a Disney production, you can imagine everything was very well done -- the costumes, lights, skaters, and props were pretty awesome. Although I will say that princesses have pretty slow music.... She was getting rather bored toward the end. And she was mad at me because I bought her the wrong ridiculously overpriced light-up wand. She wanted the one with rainbow lights, and instead I bought her the one with golden lights. For a whopping $26, I told her she was going to love the golden one and sleep with it for the next two years....

Violet and Grandma Katy

Disney Princesses on Ice -- before the show started

Me and Violet after the show -- she was being a pill....

The parking down there was crazy. Everything was filled up -- the lots, the parking on the street, everything. So we drove across the river and parked by the awesome pedestrian bridge that Violet always wants to walk across. It was definitely a breezy walk and up a big hill, but we got to our seats with five minutes to spare.

Here's Violet with her $26 light-up toy. But I always wanted to point out her super cute outfit -- primo hand-me-downs from Cousin Marla!! The fur coat is the cutest thing ever! Thanks Jean and Marla!!

After the performance, Mom and I dropped Violet off at home for an overdue nap and then we went back to the East Village for coffee, desserts and Small Business Saturday shopping. The Village was hopping, which is always great to see. I bought Violet's Christmas ornament and a stocking stuffer for Shawn, but that was it. I did get a lot of good ideas for Mom and my sister.

And now I am back home, sitting by my Christmas tree and listening to Shawn and the boys play a board game. It was a great day!