I knew we were too late for Tord. So, I held off going to Target, why drive myself crazy? But last week we got the urge. The long evening was ahead of us with girls bouncing off the walls, so we bundled up in the rain and went out to the nearest Target, which is pretty far out, really, so I still had some hope.
Well, the dishes were there and the candelabra, but no garlands, which is what I had hoped for. They don't even have them online. But you know, I am totally okay with all of it. I got some wrapping paper and some tins of smores and peppermint Oreos (warning, the packaging is way better than the taste) and I thought, "Well good, we didn't spend money on stuff we don't need. .blah, blah." If they had the Tord I wanted, I would have gotten all hordey and weird and stressed about how much to buy, etc.
So, I figure we were all good to go and I round the corner to see Pete stuffing a god awful moving train figurine into our cart. The kind that lights up with fiber optics and goes around. Seriously. There is not one cute/kitsch thing about this, um, decoration. It's just bad on every level. "What are you doing?" He freezes. I think if he thought he could fit it in, I wouldn't really notice. He quickly explains that the girls loved seeing it last year (they did) and that they sold out so fast and. . . . .so we got it. It's so flippin ugly, I can't believe it. The girls stare at it mesmerized and the fiber optics are so over the top. I thought we'd put it in th play room downstairs, but no, it's right in the living room on top of the modern Danish sideboard that would have been so perfect for Tord-type holiday decor. Oh the aesthetic pain here is very real, but somehow, in a fabulous way, it seems perfect. And I love Pete for wanting it for them so badly. And, the music turns off, which is a good thing.