Tag: holidays

Lazy Thanksgiving

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

Since either Donny or myself have always had to work the day after Thanksgiving we’ve never really traveled on this holiday. None of us really like traditional Thanksgiving food so for many years we’ve just always gone to Cracker Barrel. This year we decided to do something different.

I waited in the car while Donny picked up our order. Best decision ever. The food was exactly what we ordered. Everyone got what they wanted and it was so good. We watched football and napped. I had picked up a pumpkin pie so there was zero cooking on my part, which was greatly appreciated by me.

Jackson hit me up to go to the mall for some sales he had seen at Entertainmart. So we will be fighting the crowds in the morning. Are there still even Black Friday crowds? I can remember when it used to be a big deal to pick up the Thanksgiving day newspaper so you could scour the ads and make a game plan on which stores to hit first. Now it seems as though Black Friday starts the first of November. I guess we’ll see.

We did do a little bit of Black Friday shopping earlier in the week. Well, I wouldn’t really call it that because it was just some Halloween things at 80% off. The kids and I had to run to Michaels to get new portfolios for them because the ones I got them at the beginning of school weren’t holding up with their easels in them. You can always spot art students because they lug these giant things around.

Jackson and I are always looking for the Spooky Town houses. We found these to add to our collection.

Hannah also picked up a few things Halloweeny for her room. She likes all things spooky.

Unlike most people I’ve seen online I have not put our Christmas tree up yet. I did however get all of the boxes out of the shed but so far that’s it. I just cannot do it before Thanksgiving. It just seems so wrong to me. I’m hoping to get it up by Saturday or Sunday. We are all also worried about our kitten because she climbs everything and I don’t know how we are going to keep her off the tree.

And just because I thought our house looked cool in the dark when we drove up.

I hope everyone had a really good Thanksgiving.

Halloween 2025

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

I am so late posting this, but things have been a bit crazy around here. Hannah decided that we were going to have a Halloween party because in our town there is little for late teen to 21 year olds to do on this holiday. She and Jackson were just going to invite a few of their friends to keep it small. We decorated the backyard so they could hang out around the fire pit, play corn hole and roast hotdogs and make s’mores.

I found this vintage door cover at an estate sale.

Hannah and I carved pumpkins the night before.

Since the party started at 5:30 there was plenty of light to play Cornhole.

They loved the fire pit so much that we had to go get more wood.

They decided to load up in the back of Gavin’s pickup and go trick or treating around the neighborhood. I know some people think they may be too old, but I had seen a post on All Things Longview that was asking if any adults could go trick or treating. The yes response was overwhelming. This is mainly because most kids go to the really big neighborhoods where they block off the streets and are known for their trick or treating. Our little neighborhood has homes that decorate but no one comes.

Hannah was Gumball and her Olivia was Darwin (a fish. she had a fin but you can’t see it from the front) from the Adventures of Gumball.

Gavin and Hannah

The kids ended up with a lot of candy. One house had hotdogs and hot chocolate. After the trick or treating they decided to play some board games.

The festivities ended around midnight and everyone had a great time. I think we’ll have to do this again. I hope everyone else had a happy Halloween.

Day #98 – Dollar Tree Lady

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Yesterday Donny and I pulled the Halloween crates out of the shed. I was looking through the bins and realized that I only had 2 tombstones because the third one had blown away last year. We decided to go to Dollar Tree to see if they had any. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money because we just do it for fun and if it looks a little janky that’s okay with us.

When we walked in we headed over to the Halloween area. There was a woman redoing the area and we asked if they had any tombstones. She said that she didn’t think so. We looked around, didn’t see any, but did find a few things to add to the outside decor.

When we went to check out we got in her lane and she turned the light off indicating that she was closed. We went to the next register, that was empty and some person stepped in front of us with a cart full. The original lady motioned us over and said she’d check us out. We put all of our items on the belt and she proceeds to tell me that she is glad she never buys any of this stuff because it’s a waste of money and it’s a pagan holiday that she would NEVER celebrate.

I told her that I’m a Christian and that my church even celebrates Halloween. She tsked at me and by that time Donny had joined the conversation. He told her that we weren’t wanting to worship demons but just wanting to check out. She continued her diatribe about what a pagan holiday it was. Then she said to me, I love your necklace.

I told her oh, it’s St. Michael. She then says, Oh, the archangel. I said, yes and he protects me from demons on Halloween. We gathered our bags and Donny wished her a happy Halloween.

I get that some people don’t like or celebrate Halloween. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. I just can’t imagine working in a retail environment and telling a customer that they are pagan when they have no idea what my beliefs are. Dollar Tree do better with your employees.

Anyway, this is what us pagans purchased.

And these cute solar lights.

I was putting up the Brita filters and decided to see what they would actually cost instead of the six dollars and change (25% off the price) we paid at the estate sale.

They are $67 dollars at Walmart!!!! Donny is the one that always buys the filter so I had no idea. No wonder he jumped on them.