A Day Off

Doug took today off so that we could spend the day together.  We decided to use it to go Christmas shopping and to finally use the Ruth Chris gift certificate that he received last year.  Many years ago he would always try to take a day off to go shopping together in November and December.  During Doug's tenure at Renegade we just hadn't been able to pull it off.  I was glad that we were able to work it out for today as we had a wonderful time together and accomplished quite a bit.

Our first stop of the day was Target.  We found quite a bit that we needed for Christmas including stocking stuffers and gifts for the Advent calendar.  I was glad to put our 20% off to good use.  From there we headed to Kohl's.  Doug needed shoes and I wanted some workout pants.  We also found a few Christmas presents for Meg, Cam and Cal.  I didn't have to look for anything for Brett as I did all of his shopping on Cyber Monday.  Once again we had some nice coupons to use and were happy with what we found in the end.

Doug wanted to go to lunch after our first few stops, so we went to Ruth Chris next.  It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch.  Doug had the lobster macaroni and cheese and I tried the stuffed chicken breast.  Both were delicious.  It was nice to spend some quiet time together reflecting on our shopping trips of years past.  Doug remarked that our path had changed since those times.  He was right as our first stop back then was always Toys R Us where we loaded our carts with the best Christmas deals. This year we did the majority of our shopping online and we used this time to find the speciality items.

After lunch we went to Pier One where I found some beautiful decorations.  We then stopped in the wild birds store and the popcorn store.  Both had some great novelty items, but nothing that we needed today.  Doug did need a suit for work, so next on our agenda was Jos. A Banks at the University Park Mall.  While he was being fitted for a suit, I used the time to pick up some items at Bath & Body Works and Yankee Candle.  We met at the food court and then walked through the mall together, stopping at Macy's, JC Penney's and Barnes & Noble.  We didn't buy a lot, but I was able to get in my 10,000 steps without any problem.

We left South Bend in time to get to the second half of Cam's game.  They played Wawasee tonight and made it a lot closer than I would have guessed.  Meg stopped by the game to quickly pick up a portable charger before heading to Bethany's 80s dance sponsored by the student council.  After the game Doug and I made one more shopping stop at Walmart.  While we were there Cam and Avery went with my parents to Ponderosa.  We all met back at our house this evening to enjoy a quiet night at home.  It was a great way to end a perfect day off.