Sneak peek

My normal rule is that Christmas starts as soon as Thanksgiving ends. I wait to listen to music. I wait to decorate. And I wait on most of my shopping.

Sometimes there are exceptions - like yesterday when I discovered that Air 1 is already streaming Christmas tunes. I admit that I listened quietly at my desk for just a little bit :)

When Eryn and I saw an ad for Al's Garden Center's Evening of Lights, we decided we should attend the Christmas sneak peek on Nov. 3. Really, we were just hoping for some free cookies or something.

I put on some Christmas socks for the occasion (also breaking one of my rules!).
Getting excited!!!
Mom and Dad decided at the last minute to join us. They like free cookies, too!
The place was decked out! It was nearly wall-to-wall people, everyone checking out the themed trees and decorations.
Don't get your tinsel in a tangle!
Poinsettias as far as the eye could see.
We all really liked this nativity set. But each piece was $600. Yikes.
SANTA!There were no cookies, but a few samples were hidden here and there, and they were serving punch and selling some food. Bummer. But I did buy some fudge (at 10% off for the event!)
Eryn scored three beautiful camellia's for $4.99 each - Al's One-Day Deal of the day:
Despite the photographic evidence to the contrary, Mom was there, too. She disappeared for a while - found some people to talk to (surprise, surprise!)

After, we went to Davidson's for some dinner. M&D had some leftover scrip, so it was FREE!

The Christmas preview was really fun, but we were quickly brought back to reality when we arrived at the restaurant:
Appropriately, it was still decorated for fall.

OK - we'll get through the excitement of the next few weeks (Turkey Feast, Thanksgiving, Give 'n Gobble run). THEN we'll focus on Christmas :)