Rescue crew has responded and is on the scene. Bystanders witnessed a Lou fleeing the accident. The Lego police are investigating.

Snowmen are under observation, but their hearts are going Thumpy-thump-thump. So it seems they’ll live.

I crack me up sometimes.

The first and incidentally only Thanksgiving we’ve spent with Mike’s family, his mom gleefully suggested that we giiiiirls (meaning my sisters-in-law and I) get all of the Christmas shopping knocked out the next day.

The day after Thanksgiving…

I believe I chortled, “Shopping? um… that’s what the Internet is for” and went back to eating pie.

There was no way in hell I was getting up early the next day to fight tooth and nail for merino wool sweaters and Tickle-me Elmos or whatever the must-have toy was that year.

She had to have been disappointed. As the mother of three boys, the woman practically tears up at the thought of finally having girl children to take on shopping adventures.

I grew up with two younger sisters. I keep telling her it’s not that great, but I don’t think she believes me.

This year, I broke my word and ventured out to the Toys R Us sale, opening at 10pm Thanksgiving night.

We had been guests at someone elses’ Thanksgiving feast, so there weren’t any dishes or messy family squabbles  for me to clean up. The kids were in bed. Mike was halfway into a turkey coma.

With a Toys R Us within a five minute drive from my house, I thought, “Why not? If it sucks, I at least I didn’t have to go too far”… because, apparently, that’s how I measure all things. How far do I have to drive to get there?

Here is why not and never again.

I showed up at 10:15 and the parking lot was packed.  I wasn’t surprised until a family shoved their three-year-old IN FRONT OF MY CAR to keep me from getting a spot, which I was neither fighting for nor cared about. I simply took the spot three cars over. Not a big deal. Really not worth killing off your children, people.

However, that does bring me to my first point. Lack of sleep makes people CRAZY!

The line wrapped around the building… twice and it was 30 degrees, but I stood there anyway. Why?

Because the lady behind me in line let me leaf through her catalog. It proclaimed Legos! Doll houses! 30… 40… 50% off! Do you know how much Legos cost? A lot. Do you know how much my son (and husband) love Legos? Tremendously. So I stood there… and shivered.

Well, what I didn’t notice in the dim light of the parking lot and shaking of my hands, was that only THREE Lego set were on sale. The three no one cares about! Imagine that?

It took 40 minutes to get into the store and only 15 to decide it wasn’t worth it. I would have turned around and left, except I was trapped in a hoard of limited-edition, licensed-character flip sofas, three-wheeled scooters, and gaudy plastic kitchens.

As I made my way to the exit dizzy and empty-handed, people kept blocking my way. “Are you trying to cut in line?” several people demanded.  Meanwhile, little kids were getting hit in the face right and left with their parents offering little more comfort than,  “It’s okay… oh, let’s look at video games!”

Yep, little kids. It’s one thing to stand in line for TWO days in freezing darkness for flatscreens and Tom Toms. It’s quite another to make your infant and toddler be there with you. This is the level of crazy and desperate assholery you will be dealing with.

After my not-quite-but-close-enough Black Friday experience, I’m going back to my original stance:

“Shopping? um… that’s what the Internet is for”

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

This is an article written by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, author of a new book Bending Toward the Sun: A Mother and Daughter Memoir. Since Thanksgiving is a mere hours away and many of you (though not us) will be spending it with extended family, I thought it made a for fitting and timely post.

At the very least, you could use them as  non sequitur to push through those awkward conversations and/or long, stinging silences.

I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving… wherever and with whomever you will be spending it.

*****************

For readers who still have the chance, there may be no greater gift you can give yourself and your children than to know more about your parents’ early years. Sometimes the opportunity to ask questions simply presents itself, perhaps at a family reunion, or in a relaxed setting on vacation. But for many, it will not. I’ve found that since my memoir of my mother and I, Bending Toward The Sun, came out, people have told me that they wish they had asked their parents more questions about their pasts. We often have to pro-actively initiate these probing, more intimate conversations, which are not always in our comfort zones.

However the opportunity arises, what follows are 15 suggestions that will help open up these important discussions among family members.

1. Create a family tree with your mother, father, or both. Ask them to tell you everything they know about your ancestors, including birthplaces and important dates in their lives.

2. Ask your mother or father to describe his or her primary childhood home. Perhaps he or she can go on to tell you about a particularly happy memory of an event that took place there, and a painful memory as well.

3. Ask your parent what books, movies, and music were his or her favorite as a child. You can then move from there to ask about current favorite books or movies.

4. Childhood heroes provide a rich topic of conversation. Ask your parents who their childhood heroes were. Again, you can move from childhood to present day and explore whom they most admire and why.

5. Explore the family vacations your parents took as a child. Ask about where they particularly liked to go, and whether there were any trips they disliked.

6. Try and discover what the rules were in your mother’s or father’s family, and which of these rules, if any, they felt were unfair. Also use this opportunity to learn what responsibilities your parents had as children, and how these contributed to the people your parents evolved into.

7. Inquire about the things your parents wanted to do as children but could not because your grandparents wouldn’t allow them to, they were unaffordable, or your parents did not possess the talent or skills to do them.

8. Ask your parents what questions they wish they had asked their own parents but never did.

9. It is not always easy to ask parents about their own fears, but it provides a good opportunity for mutual understanding. Ask your mother or father what he or she was afraid of as a child and about what he or she fears most today.

10. Ask your father or mother to describe a crush he or she had, or a special teenage romance.

11. Explore how your parents perceived themselves as children. Ask them how they thought adults and peers viewed them, and which aspects of these perceptions were accurate or inaccurate.

12. Ask your parents what first attracted them to each other, and what they most respect or respected in the other. If they are no longer married to one another, see if they will discuss what drove them apart and why.

13. Probe into the highs and lows of your parents’ lives. Ask about their proudest accomplishments and greatest disappointments. If they had one thing to do over in life up to this point, what would it be and why?

14. While they are reflecting, ask your mother or father what they would most want to be famous for, if they were destined to be famous for something.

15. Don’t miss the opportunity to explore how your parents view you. Ask your parents what about you reminds them of themselves at the same age. Ask what they are proudest of in you. And, if you are feeling particularly comfortable by that point in the conversation, ask if they have any questions to for you.

Most people have neither the time nor the desire to spend a decade writing a memoir about a parent or close family member, as my mother and I had the opportunity to do. But even a couple hours spent exploring the past with a parent could provide new and deeper appreciation and understanding. Moreover, a few pages of heart-felt answers could be very satisfying and useful to future generations.

©2010 Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, author of Bending Toward the Sun: A Mother and Daughter Memoir

Thanks to American Express for sponsoring my writing today about small businesses. American Express is presenting Small Business Saturday, a way to honor the local merchants who are the backbone of the economy, this Saturday, November 27. They’re offering statement credits to people who shop at small businesses, advertising for small-business owners, and donations to Girls Inc. for “Likes” of the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook.

Join the celebration by clicking the “Like” button and then visiting the Facebook page to learn more about the program and read the terms and conditions that apply.

*************

The public votes and every Monday, the staff selects a winning design, which then gets featured on the site!

Still not not convinced?

Once the shirt is printed and available for purchase on the site, the organization earns up to 50% of the proceeds from each shirt sold.

There are many companies, both large and small, making a contribution to society. I still shop at Target for the essentials. There’s a terrific online company who delivers diapers to my doorstep in 2 days or less, and my family’s toilet paper comes in bulk.

Now that the holiday season is in full swing and finances being tight, it will be difficult to resist those much flasher, louder, BIGGER stores vying for my bucks. But somewhere between Black Friday and CyberMonday, stop to consider the Goodjoes of the world– the small, local businesses creating jobs, boosting the economy, and preserving neighborhoods around the country each and every day.

This Saturday, November 27th, 2010 will be the first ever Small Business Saturday.

When I was invited to Zeum in San Francisco to attend a launch party for Sesame Street’s new video games, my feelings were divided.

As  products of a self-taught programmer/film-maker homebody and an athletically-challenged mommy blogger/tv obsessive, the last thing my children need is to be exposed to MORE screen time.

The idea of introducing video games into my household (much less ones specifically geared towards my four-year-old) is not as high on my list of priorities as…. say, making sure my kids go outside or participate in a team sport. Someday.

On the other hand, it’s Zeum! And it’s Sesame Street!

(Have I not told you about my daughter’s love of Bert? Do you know how difficult it is to track down Bert in comparison to Elmo or Ernie or even, Oscar the Grouch? Another post for another day, my lovelies.)

******************

It was an absolute delight to meet Lisa Medoff, an educational consultant for Sesame Workshop, and Kirsten Gavoni, a producer from Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment.

Both are working moms (yea! girls in tech!) with impressive some credentials.

Gavoni admitted her three-year-old daughter was the “guinea pig” helping to work out kinks  and bugs at each level of development.

As they demonstrated the games, they talked through the level of research, insight, and consideration- both from an educational and a technical standpoint- that went into developing for each platform. For instance, the Wii version incorporates cognitive skills with movement, a whole body approach to learning.

I left the event feeling a little less “anti-video game”, but still not a 100% convinced they’re for us.

After much hesitation, I loaded the PC-version of Sesame Street: Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure on my laptop for Scout. He  likes playing it, but seems as ambivalent towards it as he is about most of his toys. This is a good thing.

Given a choice, he still prefers making up stories with Lego mini figs and working on his various messes… er, art instillation throughout the house. I like that.

But on those extra lazy parent days (i.e. I’m tried of cleaning up string and crayons), it’s nice to be able to offer him an interactive and education alternative to just vegging.

******************

Here are a few of the features I like most about these games:

1. The learning is self-paced and builds upon itself. There’s a lot of repetition, but the kids are constantly learning something exciting and new. My four-year-old can now spell “ocelot”, whereas I still have no idea what that is.

2. Parental controls like game limits. I set ours to stop at five games. Once those are done, the characters say goodbye and the screen changes, signaling the end of game play. Done.

As anyone who has ever played “hostage negotiator” with a toddler-now-preschooler knows, “Oh, the game stopped working. Time for bed” is an infinitely better transition than, “Mommy said to go to bed. I don’t wanna go to beeeeeed. I wanna play the gaaaaaame. Youreameanmommyihateyouwhahahahaha“

3. MUPPETS!

4. Instructions are read as well as written on the screen. Not only does this make the connection between words and sounds, I’m not having to stop what I’d doing every five minutes to give my son the next prompt. (And isn’t it all about me?) Meanwhile, it gives him a sense of independence. He’s able to figure things out on his own instead of waiting for me to show him. Certainly a desirable skill to develop!

******************

This week, I am hosting a giveaway on Mama Manifesto for two… yes,  TWO versions of the game.

Sesame Street: Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure for the Wii. Come with an extra adorable Elmo Wii-mote cover.

*AND*

Sesame Street: Cookie’s Counting Carnival for the Nintendo DS with a Cookie Monster jumbo click stylus. Perfect for tiny hands.

I know. I’m a saint. Please stop by Mama Manifesto for entry rules and chances to win. Drawing will be held next Saturday, November 20th at 11 pm PST. The winners will be announced on Mama Manifesto the following Sunday.

Disclosure: I received three complimentary copies of the Sesame Street Video Games from the manufacturer– one to facilitate an honest review and two to giveaway to readers. I was under no obligation nor was I compensated in any way to write a post. As always, the thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own.