Eat, Shop, _____

Me: If there’s anything fun you want to do today, just let me know.
She: It seems like there’s nothing to do here but shop and eat.
Me: ...
She: There’s probably a whole blog post in that...

How are you going to entertain those kids now that they’ve been to college and experienced larger worlds? It’s a little harder when you’re generally a homebody.

What have we done over the holidays that wasn’t shopping or eating out?

Church
Ice and Fire at Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods

Yikes.

Well, inspired by this conversation, we decided to go to the Ellicott City Lights house last night. We had somehow never been. I am assuming that most of my readers have already seen this remarkable annual holiday tradition, so I won’t go into too much detail. And if you haven’t, I’d recommend it. I experienced that childlike sense of delight as I discovered each aspect of the display. It provided a moment of happiness for me that felt almost medicinal.

The world is full of unspeakable horrors, our democracy is under attack, but right here, right now, in the lights and music and the aroma of popcorn and the taste of candy canes we are at peace and full of love. The bin for donations to the Howard County Food Bank is filling up. Let’s just pretend that we can bottle this feeling and share it widely.

Who knows? Maybe we can find a way.

So we got off the couch and did something. Afterwards we had dinner at Uno’s and shopped at Target. That’s Columbia/HoCo for you.

A shout out to friend of the blog Nikki Schmidt who posted the following yesterday afternoon:

Fellow busy parents - it's 63° outside and sunny. Take 10 minutes to stand outside, breath the fresh air and turn your face to the sun. Vitamin D is critical for mental health, and this air is glorious.

 I took her advice. Once I was up and out of the house I decided to return some library books at the East Columbia Branch. Wow, do I love our library system. I returned my books, noodled around the childrens’ section, searched the online catalogue for books on an upcoming topic for my classroom, and walked out with a great selection.

And I didn’t spend any money or eat a meal in the process, so I’ll count that as a win.