Sunday was shopping day, time to use the WalMart gift certificates we got for Christmas. I got one from my partners at work (thanks guys!) and my dad gave us another one. I got three pairs of very comfortable pants (grey, black, and navy) and two black dress blouses, one satin and one lace, that both came with sleeveless shells to wear under them. We got wrapping paper & bows for next year, some big plastic storage bins for the boys' clothes closet, "Thunderbirds" on DVD, some stuff for Jake's birthday, diapers & milk, a 128 Mb memory stick for Gazer's PDA, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now. We went over the certificates by about the total of Jake's birthday gifts, so that worked out well.

We've still got two cards for Fayette Mall from my grandparents too, we were going to go yesterday but started out too late so we'll probably go in the next day or two. (The mall closes at 6pm on Sundays and we didn't leave until after 5, fortunately I'd called ahead to check.) I'm hoping to find a cheap blazer on sale at Lane Bryant, and maybe a black bra to go with the new blouses. I started out looking for a blazer at WalMart, but they didn't have one that fit. They only had two ladies' styles, not either one I was very happy with anyway, and none at all in mens' sizes. I used to have more trouble finding pants to fit than tops; now it seems it's the other way around.

Oh, and for our birthdays we went out on two kid-free dates - also on gift certificates. The quiet together-time was incredible. Note to self: I *really* like the honey pepper glaze at Applebee's.

I used to avoid giving gift certificates because they always seemed impersonal somehow, but after all this, I hope to start giving them out more often. In retrospect, with a lot of help and a lot of love, it turned out to be a pretty good Christmas season after all.