Home Alone

Dear Elaine,

If you ever recall that Christmas when you didn't get many gifts to open on Christmas morning, we're sorry.  We signed up for Parents Night Out; we sent in the check; he came home early from a trip out of town to shop with me for your gifts; we left the front door unlocked, just in case, as we left a little before you would have returned home from school.

And he and I went shopping, in a town 30 minutes away.  And we laughed on the ride over.  We bought coffee.  We joked at all of the crap out there.  We had a long conversation with an 11-year-old about Nerf guns. 

Then we thought to call home, because we had told you to go to Parents Night out at the school after dismissal, but we realized that we hadn't really heard anything more about it.

And you answered the phone.

You: "Hello"
Me: "Elaine?!  Hi, um, how are you doing?" 
You: "We're good.  We're eating macaroni and cheese, and the boys are fighting over the Wii.  We just came home because we didn't know where to go."
Me: "Okay, sweetie.  We'll be home really soon!  We're just down the road," said while I attempted to contain the shrillness in my voice.

Hang up; race around the store with our heads cut off; check out as quickly as we can (ha); race home--because we just left our kids home alone at Christmas time! 

And so, we didn't get your present, which was next on the shopping list, and it was our last chance.  And we found the note above in the bottom of Ben's backpack when we returned to a quite normal house.

When we sat down on Christmas day and shopped the Ty store for you, that was why we did that.

Love you and glad we aren't in jail,
Mom and Dad