A New Tradition?

I wanted to do something a little special for my very tired husband, so this morning I resolved to get to the recycling center - a major chore.  And the boys wanted to pick out some things for their sisters for Christmas.  We packed up the car with bagged garbage, cardboard, cans, bottles, paper recycling, a bag of old clothes.  Of course, all this took way longer than planned and I knew I would have two hungry boys on my hands soon after the trip to the recycling center with many more errands to go.  But I also didn't want to delay getting out to pack lunch.

I really, really, really try to avoid fast food places at all costs...even on our many road trips we pack food to go...hard boiled eggs, cold sausages, sandwhiches, chunks of cheese, hummus and chips, little yogurts...etc..

But like I said I didn't really have any of those things around to pack quick so we decided on our favorite pizza place in town.  It was not "fast" but well worth taking a little time.  First it was *warm* - both in easing the chill in little toes and the heart of a mother mentally tallying all the tasks yet to be accomplished before Christmas.  There was a Christmas tree, poinsettias, and even a *Nativity* set up in the main dining area.  What a pleasure to go out somewhere where it really felt like Christmas.  And what a pleasure to know that my boys are getting old enough at 7 and 10 to able to take them out to a restaurant with relative ease.

They took turns going over to look at the Nativity scene and reporting back their impressions.  Christian was impressed by the extra stall provided for the animals.  Aidan came back to report that - it was not "proper" because baby Jesus was already there and the three wise men too!!  He was a bit taken  aback at these obvious errors but I convinced him that no, we would not be troubling the owner over it - we do our creche at home our way - they can do theirs, their way.

The pizza came and soon we were stuffed full of yummy pizza and ready to face the rest of the day.