Bronner's

We went to Bronner's today. Our annual trip. Our fifth trip as a family.

We thought this would be the easiest year yet.  We left work early, so we'd get there early and avoid the busy evening crowds.  Neither child was in a stroller, which is a pain to navigate, so we'd avoid that hassle.  We knew exactly what ornaments we wanted: a wedding ornament for Clay & me, either Scooby Doo or Angry Birds for Narls and Em was looking for a "pwincess".  Easy peasy.

Only not so much.  Everyone and their brother picked today to visit Bronner's early. Serously.  It was busier than any evening we've ever attended.  And the stroller-free kids? They ran. And touched. And explored. And tried to hide behind the expensive and fragile decorations.

And we found not a single ornament we liked.  Every wedding decoration was cheesy and overly traditional and just not right.  They were out of Scooby Doo decorations and didn't carry anything Angry Birds.  Em found a soccer ball bulb she liked, but even that she wasn't overly fond of.

This is exactly the kind of trip that normally would ruin my day.  Hell, my week! I put so much emphasis on things being "perfect" and just so and when something deviates from my plan? Well Christmas might as well be cancelled.

But you guys, I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF - I didn't let that happen.  I handled my business. I worked through it.

Busy night? No sense stressing about it because I can't control it. So I relaxed.

Sure, I was bummed we didn't get our annual ornaments, but Clay & I have the ornament we bought in Vegas after our wedding, which is more perfect than any other we've seen. So I relaxed about that, too.

And Narls and Em running? Well they're kids, they're excited, it happens. They didn't break anything and they had fun. We made memories.  Good ones. Which truly was the whole point of the trip, right?  

Right.