Red Cup Day.

Three years ago, my Mom, Grandma, Sister-in-Law and I established the fantastic tradition that is Red Cup Day.



On this very special day just a few days before Christmas, the four of us set out to a quaint little town in the next state over (only about an hour away), and dive into a day of fun. We leave the babies with other family members, eat a lot, shop til we drop and consume as many Starbucks "red cup" beverages as we possibly can - hence the name, Red Cup Day.

Each year, my Mom comes up with a theme for the day. The first year was "Christmas Dresses", where we all shopped for a new dress to wear to Church on Christmas Sunday. The next year was "Christmas Shoes", where we all bought a beautiful new pair of shoes. And this year was "Christmas Sweaters", where we all bought a cute sweater/cardigan/basically any sweater-y outerwear. It was so much fun!



This year was exceptionally fun. We were out until almost 1am! I've got one hip grandmother, wouldn't you say? At 10:30pm, we sipped our last drops of our Caramel Salted Hot Chocolate and grabbed some last minute items at Target. As we checked out, braved the cold wind and quickly ran to our cars, I noticed Grandma dragging behind fumbling with something. I looked back at her and she stopped dead in her tracks and exclaimed, "OH NO!"



Panicked, we asked what was wrong. She slowly lifted up her sleeve and held out her arm. Dangling from her wrist like a shining beacon in the night was a beautiful, silver, dainty little bracelet from a local department store - with the tag still attached.

In unison, we all screamed and erupted in laughter.

My little innocent, precious, law abiding citizen of a grandmother, accidentally shoplifted on Red Cup Day.

Hi-larious.

During the half hour spree of trying on and looking for bracelets for all her many friends for Christmas gifts, she accidentally left one on!

When we finally regained our composure, Grandma checked her watch and saw that we had exactly 4 minutes left until 11:00pm - when the store locks it's doors. We raced over as quickly as we could and she ran in to return the shimmery lifted wristlet with just a few seconds to spare.



(Too many red cups for us!)

We had a good laugh all the way home. Our Red Cup Days are truly magical. The air smells sweeter, the lights shine brighter and the carols are merrier on Red Cup Day. The four of us are kindred souls, excellent companions and the best of friends. These annual memories are so dear to my heart!

Oh, and after Christmas came and went and everyone went back to their respective homes, I got an e-mail from Grandma. She "accidentally" made it home with my Sister-in-Law's bracelet! HA HA!! Sure, Grandma. SURE it was an accident. :)