lights, lights, and movies

fso the title references three recent activities.

1. lights (the first, not the second) = bemidji's 'night we light' parade. this is a variation of a festival of nights. takes place the friday after thanksgiving. was the 14th annual this year. i sat on bethel lutheran's float and sang with the choir. nothing quite like live music on a float. and it wasn't too horribly cold or anything. which was a pleasant surprise for northern minnesota at the end of november.

2. lights (now the second one) = christmas lights. my parents and sister drove up with some christmas decorations. like my precious gifts from germany. which includes two nativities, one musical, and one ginormous nutcracker. add in the cheese-tastically amazing inflatable nativity that now resides on my front lawn. and some icicle lights. and a christmas tree. i bought my first tree! well, technically my mom paid for it. but it's mine.

3. movies. my baby sis kiana and i went to the latest in the twilight saga/series of movies: 'new moon'. it was a pretty good one. not quite what my sister wanted since she's a jacob fan who's never read the books and so did not know how it was gonna end. i love how upset she was. and i enjoyed giggling like a little schoolgirl during the movie with some of the romance. and all the boys with nice bodies running around without their shirts on. then we came home and watched 'monsters vs aliens' when we got back. it was pretty cute and i'm glad i bought it on black friday.

other highlights recently:

- mom's chicken noodle soup.

- black friday shopping where i purchased several movies ('monsters vs aliens' among others). no, i did not get up for the 4/5/6 am rushes. i slept in and didn't get to walmart until 8 am. which was fine for me. and was happy that there were still a lot left for me to peruse and purchase.

- simply having guests around. slumber party! except we all have our own rooms since i have the space...

- taking a picture with santa and mrs claus at walmart this afternoon. i would like to note that mrs claus (aka lee, a sweet woman who attends the church i intern at) is standing behind us while we all sit on a bench.