A Tale of Two Deer

It all started innocently enough. It always does.

The boy wanted more Christmas lights in the yard. "More" meaning brighter and tackier and flashier.

It doesn't help that we live in a neighborhood that would make Clark Griswold tear up and cry with jealousy. These people have some serious holiday lighting going on.
I don't know how they pay their power bills.

It makes our tasteful garland and tiny trees look just, well... downright scrooge-ish.

So in hopes of not disappointing the boy whose dad is 9000 miles away at the holidays and who deserves the bestest Christmas ever... (Can you tell I replay that over and over and over in my mind 85 times a day?)

We needed to buy more lights.

And reindeer.

You see... our good friends have an adorable little reindeer. He lights up and looks so sweet in the front yard. I start thinking,
"I can have a sweet little reindeer on my front lawn too!"

So I loaded up my single-mommy guilt and the boy and we headed out to tackify the yard.

First stop was the K. Where my friend purchased her reindeer. Where I promptly returned almost everything we picked out. Did you know that the "K" is much more expensive than the "W"? I had heard the rumors, but I rarely shop there. So... into the return line went our overpriced holiday decor.

(I will not even begin to discuss the "T" store. It is in a league all its own.)

And on to the big "W" I went. They had (almost) the exact same reindeer for $10 less.

So we bought two.

A boy and a girl. Or, a buck and a doe.

When we got home and unloaded our loot, we immediately sat down in the floor to put our little LED friends together.

I give you... the girl deer...



After putting her together, we made an unfortunate discovery.

Our little buck had no head.

He had a body, he had glittery antlers, he had a cute little tail.

He even lit up.

With no head.

It was just wrong.
So... Back into the box we crammed him. Back to the "W" he went.

The day I returned/exchanged him also happened to be my birthday. While others lounge at the spa or jet off to Paris for their birthday, I stand in line at the Mart and return a headless deer. Speaks volumes, don't ya think?

My deer-owning friend called me to wish me a happy birthday, and I told her what I was doing. She told me that HER deer was also experiencing technical difficulties. It's head wasn't lighting up anymore. Goodness. It's not a good year to be a plastic light-up Christmas deer.

So I suggested our deer get should get together, and that sparked another not-entirely appropriate conversation about Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga.

So now we have a new buck. He will be joining his doe as soon as we can get him put together.



And don't feel too sad for me... I had a GREAT birthday. There were phone calls and gifts and 2 meals out and cake... and more of that later. Everone should go to the Mart on their birthday. It'll keep you humble.

And I will post pictures of our holiday grandeur very soon.

As for the deer? The boy wants to name them Twinkles and Sparkles. I'm thinking Adam and Gaga.