Christmas Shopping Day

Well, we had quite a day yesterday.

This is the last weekend that I'll be able to get out for the next ten weeks so we were trying to get all the Christmas shopping done.  Didn't quite make it so I guess I'll be doing some online shopping.

We did get my car oil changed and tires rotated which was a big accomplishment.  Since they gave us a free package for all the maintenance when I bought the car, I had to take it to the dealership.  That shouldn't have been a big deal except I bought the car in Fayettesville, TN.  Yeah, about 45 miles away but we chose this particular dealership because they gave me 120% of the blue book value on my Solara when I traded it in.  Anyway, you have to make an appointment and ours was for 9 am.  We got there about 8:30 because I wasn't sure how long it would take us to drive it.  They took it right in and had us out by 9:20.

Then we headed on to shopping.  We hit one store in Fayettesville and got a couple of presents but then we decided that it was time to eat.  We headed back to Huntsville and ate at Cheddars.  We hadn't eaten at Cheddars before (It just came to town about a year ago and we've been meaning to try it out but it always looked too busy.) so this was a new adventure.  We didn't have to wait for a seat so that was a plus (of course, it was only 11:15 so not many people were eating lunch yet.) and we got a really nice waiter.  We decided on the the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich and fries.  The Philly Cheese Steak sandwich is supposed to have thinly sliced rib eye steak on it and I was a little disappointed in the amount they put on it...there was more cheese than meat so I probably wouldn't get that sandwich again if we go back.  Tom's had more meat on it but it was because he asked for no mushrooms.  We were definitely FULL by the time we left though...if you are looking for a lot of food for a really low price, Cheddars is the place.  The taste was good too...it just wasn't made the way I wanted it.

We took my car home after that, got the truck, and headed to the base because they have some really good unique items that I wanted to look at for Mom and Carol.  I found those as soon as I walked in so that was two off my list.  I found Daryl's in several different stores.  8-)  I found one of Tom's while we were out but would have to order online because they didn't carry the exact one he wanted.  When we got home, we realized that one thing we bought wasn't what we thought it was so we headed back to Walmart to return it.  By the time we got home, we'd been going for about 9 hours.  Suffice it to say, I was one beat puppy when we got home. 

Christmas shopping is a lot of work but also a lot of fun.  Always trying to decide if what you see if the 'right' gift and if they'll see it the way you do when they get it.  Wondering if it will just be something else that gets shoved in a closet and never looked at again.  I think the main purpose is just to let them know you are thinking about them during the holidays. 

Hope everyone is having a great day today.  I am going to recover from yesterday and mostly relax today.  8-)