Last night was simply insane. It started with my sister, mom, friend and I all piling into a minivan to head to the Midnight Madness Sale. We were almost out of C-U when my sis smelled smoke and spotted a fire. We had a bit of trouble finding it at first, but finally we found a road off of the main road that led us to the house where the corner of the roof (where the chimney was) had caught fire.

Imagine the panic and chaos as we four women get out of the van, knock on the door only to have the owners of the house tell us "No, our house isn't on fire, we just have a fire going in the fireplace" and then shut the door. I realize it would be weird to have slightly insane, strange women at your door at 11pm on Thanksgiving evening, but we are still shaking our heads at the fact that they didn't believe us. So my sister knocked again and insisted this time that they come out. Once they saw how the fire was blazing and the smoke was rolling, they started evacuating, along with a large group of children.

It was also quite stressful as my friend, who was on the phone with a 911 emergency dispatcher, kept BEGGING the occupants of the house to give us their address so that the fire department could come. In the chaos of it all, NONE of the adults would cooperate. Finally, we cornered a 10 year old girl and made her give us the house number and street name. After all the people were evacuated and the fire department arrived, we headed on to the Midnight Madness Sale.

Now that I've had a good 3 hours of sleep, reflecting on my night is making my head spin. I'm thankful for many things this holiday season. A nice house and the safety of my family is near the top of the list.