A Shopping Day for Maddie and Her Entourage

Leah and Mads at Charity Cottage doll section.

Leah and Maddie leave Big Lots with gifts.

Leah and Mads view Christmas tree at Hotel Roanoke.

Mads points out her great-grandpa, a football player at Virginia Tech in 1932 (in lobby at Hotel Roanoke).

Another pretty tree display at Hotel Roanoke.

Maddie and Pampa like the pink flamingo tree.

Descending the Hotel's big staircase.

Mads vamps at the Hotel lobby.

Kara fixes Evan's hair after pizza at my house.

Evan's new 'do'.

Yesterday was family day for Maddie, Leah and me. Mostly it was Maddie day, as it turns out, since we took her Christmas shopping for her parents, friends and anybody else we could think of.

We began at the Charity Cottage in Vinton where Mads' swim coach and my friend Annette Patterson runs a wonderful thrift store for the benefit of a bunch of non-profits and charities. The lifelike baby dolls there, made by poor women, are incredible (and one of the three of us will find one of them under the tree Christmas Day).

We ran over to nearby Big Lots, where good cheap stuff can be had and then headed to the Hotel Roanoke's holiday Christmas tree extravaganza. Leah had never seen this and Mads served as a tour guide.  Next up was Tuesday Morning where Maddie bought Leah's gift (great place to shop for Christmas), then home to pizza and Mads' mother, dad and little brother, Oz.

After dinner, Mads' Mom Kara did a number on my son's hair. He threatened to keep the "do." Said people at work have been asking, "When are you going to get a haircut." He thinks maybe the Samurai look is for him.

Nice day. There always seems to be plenty of these during the holidays.