We were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Tooley family, whom we met at a conference in Sydney almost 2 years ago. It has been wonderful to be able to share this journey with them as they too packed up their home and family and made the move to Redding. They really are our extended family and we're so blessed by them on many levels.
They are incredibly generous people, both in terms of resources and being generous with their family time. This being said, in addition to our family of 5, there were approximately 20 other people at the Thanksgiving meal! It was a wonderful afternoon. Its so fun when strangers become family and friends.
Before all the festivities started though, I ran in the Turkey Trot. As I previously mentioned, it was a cold and rainy morning. I felt a little hesitant to get out in it and run 6 miles. I had registered, paid my money and got the sweatshirt (which I wear with pride!) so I had to do it!
We bundled up the kids and drove to the starting area near the Sacramento River in Redding. There were probably a couple of thousand people milling around, looking cold and shivering in tiny running shorts and singlets. They were handing out bagels and coffee, which seemed a little strange but whatever.
Eventually it came time to start and so I farewelled the family and jogged away up the River trail and back again in about 57 mins. Crossing the finish line was the best bit and seeing the kids cheer me on was pretty special.
The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. It's the biggest shopping day in America each year apparently. It could be likened to the Boxing Day sales in Australia but on steroids. Some shops open at midnight on the 24th, others open through out the early hours of the 25th. I decided I wanted to experience this shopping phenomenon so I rested on the couch until 11:30pm and headed down to one of the department stores in Redding. I only needed to buy a quilt, as we didn't have one, so I foolishly thought I'd be in and out in a matter of minutes. Well, I was shocked to arrive and see a line of people wrapping all the way around the store waiting for the doors to open at Midnight. It was crazy! And this was happening at multiple shops around town. The vibe outside was cut-throat and some women almost came to blows over a line dispute. I was a little scared!
Midnight ticked over and the doors swung open. People rushed in, mad for bargains. I waited until the back of the queue came past and joined on the end, hence successfully avoiding getting my face smashed in for jumping the line of irate shoppers.
Well it took me about 1 min to locate the quilts, choose one and make my way to the check outs. It was here that I waited for 40mins just to make my purchase. It was horrible! I went to Target after that and the same thing happened. By about 3am I was so over it and I don't think I'll bother again next year. The eternal question remains: how far does one go for a good bargain?
A couple days after Thanksgiving we finally managed to get out of Redding and do something 'touristy'. We took a trip up to Burney Falls, about an hour away. We drove through a few towns that looked a little like movie sets and kept our heads down in case of stray bullets.
The falls themselves were amazing and nothing like we'd ever seen before. It was a lovely sunny day but cold and wet down in the valley with the river and the waterfall. The kids had a great time as we walked a mile loop around the area as Ben and I were kept on our toes keeping the little ones from falling down the hillside and into the freezing water. Being of good stock, they were too stubborn to accept help from either of us so we resorted to a herding sheep/netball defence style of protection. We made it back to the car safely and stopped off at McDonalds for lunch on the way home. Unfortunately I think the Happy Meal eclipsed the natural beauty of the falls and as we were praying that night, there was a lot of thanks to the Lord for lunch.
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