Every year our Ward sets up a Christmas tree in the foyer at church and has tags on the tree with people who are in need. The kids were so excited when we brought home three tags on Sunday.

We, as a family, had been collecting tickets in a jar on our kitchen counter, and were saving up to help someone in need this Christmas. We counted the tickets (they earned 10 cents per ticket) and off we went to Superstore.

Two of the tags were for grocery store gift certificates, so that was easy. The last tag was for a 9 year old boy, and the kids were allowed to spend all of the Christmas Jar money on a gift for him. It started off great, we got a gift and were all set to go. But then I wanted to look at mitts for the kids and Scott got distracted by the electronics.

All of a sudden I hear my name over the load speaker, paging me to Customer Service. Apparently Jesse had wondered off when we split up and had somehow become lost in the store.
Then Brett saw some Pokemon cards, and couldn't understand why it wouldn't be a good idea for us to buy them for him 9 days before Christmas.

Yep, shoulda left as soon we found that gift.

On a totally different subject, the kids have their piano recital this Saturday. Somehow I had a brain lapse and agreed to play the accompaniment for Samantha's solo. I've been practicing lots, and it really isn't a tricky piece, but I am so nervous because I've never really played piano in front of an audience before. Tomorrow we will play it for rest of the class and parents as practice during the lesson. We'll see how that goes. Yikes!