Some Holiday Lip

On the Friday after Thanksgiving the city of Dayton has a big festival to light up the Christmas tree at Courthouse Square.

Carnival rides, music, food, and a Holiday (Scavenger) Hunt around the businesses of downtown for the kids.

Keisha and I arrived downtown at 5 PM. After parking behind the public library, I put 1-hour's worth of fare in the parking meter - since the meter maids stop enforcing at 6 PM. We stopped inside the library for a bathroom break, and headed toward the festivities at Main and Third.

Upon arriving, we walked to the tent the Junior League had set up. They gave us a bag and a map so that we could go on the Holiday Hunt around downtown. Keisha and I strolled from business to business downtown, and at each stop, someone stamped our map and gave Keisha a goodie for her bag.

One of the places is the Dayton Church Supply store, which, ironically, is sandwiched between two adult bookstores. Keisha saw a mannequin "dressed up" for the holidays in one their store windows and said, "I want to get an outfit like THAT one!"

"Oh, no, you don't!" I said, as we continued walking.

We turned around to get our last two stamps. Then, all of a sudden, Keisha tripped and fell face forward on the concrete. She hit her forehead and lips. As I helped her up, I saw that she was bleeding.

In between wails, I heard her say, "I need to go to a doctor!"

"Let me see it," I said, wiping off a little of the blood. I made the sensitive decision to skip these places so that we could find a restroom where I could help her get cleaned up.

Special thanks to the folks at Skolganik's, for letting us use their restroom to help Keisha get cleaned up. I put some cold water on a paper towel and wiped Keisha's mouth. After awhile, Keisha had calmed down and felt much better.

So much better that she was up for a ride on the ferris wheel. The family in line behind us, it turns out, has a 15-year old who is hard of hearing as well. Talking with the mom and the teen about sign language and other deaf/hard of hearing stuff helped the time in the line pass by quickly.

Finally, it was Keisha's turn. It was a great ride. The lights were lit. A chill descended on the air. We were hungry and needed to pee. So we went home.