must be made of solid gold

Christmas 2007, The Mayor was 6 weeks old during his first Christmas.  I purchased several "my first Christmas" ornaments but my favorite was the 1st of a series of 5 ornaments celebrating the child's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Christmas.  Each year, I have purchased the appropriate year's ornament; this year was to be no exception.  This year is The Mayor's 5th Christmas and the last ornament in the series.

Last year, I started the same thing for Love Bug.  She got the same 1st Christmas ornament that The Mayor received in 2007.  We went to Hallmark yesterday to pick up her 2nd Christmas ornament, his 5th Christmas ornament and our family ornament.  I was irritated when I saw the 5th Christmas ornament was sold out...even the display had been sold, but then I was saddened when I read on the tag where the ornament should have hung "FINAL YEAR".  SO ANNOYING!  I asked the lady working there if they really were not going to make them after this year and she got her book out and confirmed it.  In the book it said if you have started buying this line for your children, the recommend you should go ahead and buy the future years ornaments so you can have them when needed.

We left there with only our family ornament.

I went home and called other Hallmarks.  Every single store was sold out.  I called 10 stores.

I got online to try and buy it from eBay and was shocked.  The cheapest I could buy this ornament was $25...and most were going for $40-$50.  This ornament retails for $9.95!  I absolutely wanted to complete his collection...but not for $50...what the heck, is it made of solid gold or something?

Today I widened my search and started calling other Hallmarks.  The last one on my list (30 minutes away) had one in stock!  The lady on the phone and I had a party on the line...I was so happy.  I told her to hold it for me...I was on my way.

The kids and I loaded up and headed 30 minutes away to pick up a $10 ornament...absolutely, completely rational.  When I got there, the last one they had in a box was on hold for me.  But the display was still hanging.  So I asked for the display ornament as well, picked up years 2, 3 and 4 and now Love Bug and The Mayor have the complete 5 year ornament set.

The rest of the day was spent playing play-doh, painting, teaching The Mayor how to properly use his TAG reader and eating spaghetti for dinner.  After baths, we showed The Mayor and Love Bug their new Anywhere Chairs and popped in a movie.

All-in-all, a pretty awesome rainy day.

our new Anywhere Chairs!