gobble gobble hey

i'm not sure when, exactly, i started hating thanksgiving but at some point in my life i decided that spending an entire day shoveling food into my mouth shouldn't be considered a national holiday.  i can do that any day.  in fact, i do that most days and with a lot less ceremony.  since we don't have a lot (any) family here, i wanted to make a tradition for the kids that was meaningful or at least memorable so i signed us all up for the houston turkey trot and spent the morning running the streets of houston with thousands of other people not at home cooking.

the trot included 3 different races, each with different starting times.  there was exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes between the start of the 10k and the kids' run so i figured i could run the ~6.2 miles and make it to run with the kids.  my worst case scenario would have me finishing at just an over (leaving a whole 1/2 hour to get to the kids) but i ended up hitting a PR and finishing in 51:56.  clearly i need to put my kids at the finish line of every race.  the munchkins did very well in their races, both running MOST of the time.  hardie took a cone to the face and spent a minute or so howling in pain but got back down and finished.  i still don't know whether they actually enjoy running.  they are both so! excited! before the race and claim to have fun but seem grumpy before and just after.  admittedly, lining up for a race is terribly boring and finishing is a little anti-climatic so i guess i can't really blame them for not being super happy yay at those moments - i just wish i knew whether they honestly enjoying themselves or just placating me.  

my second attempt at creating a thanksgiving tradition was taking the kids to the houston uptown lighting...thing.  i had a vague notion of what this event was, fostered entirely by a flyer i got in my turkey trot race packet.  it seemed to be a ceremony wherein santa claus would arrive and magically light a twinkling winter wonderland of christmas decorations.  i envisioned blinking trains and animatronic elves and maybe even an ironic window display.  i pictured walking hand-in-hand with my babies, oooohing and awwwing while sipping hot chocolate and discussing what a fantastic new tradition this was and how lucky they were to have such a mother.

this is what the event ACTUALLY looked like.  tens of thousands of people milling about the street and waiting for...yeah, i never quite figured out what we were waiting for but i'm pretty sure it was the 10 minutes of (admittedly nice) fireworks that were half blocked by a building despite the three of us having fought our way through this crowd to get a 'good' spot.  the lights?  a series of trees aaaaaaaaaand that's it.  there were no elves, no trains, no irony.  just a couple dozen cone trees wrapped in white lights.  i am never trusting a flyer again.  we made the most of it and by 'most' i mean the most sugar.

sugar

more sugar