Last Night

Last night, as I was putting Anna to bed, I asked her to hug everyone and say Merry Christmas. On her way downstairs, she yelled up:
"Mom, does Christmas come every year?"
"Yes honey"
All through the house we then heard:
"WooHoo, Christmas comes every year!"

I'm still laughing. I love you little girls. Thank you for making all my hard work worth while. Merry Christmas babies, and another Happy New Year.

Also funny:
"MOM! Santa got a Barbie Car down the chimmney!"

The Kranks

Have you seen the movie "Christmas With the Kranks"? Jamie Lee Curtis is in it ( I LOVE her) with Tim Allen. Her and her husband decide, when faced with the fact that their daughter will be out of the country, to skip Christmas and spend the money on a cruise. Ya know, it sounds like a fabulous idea! From Thanksgiving to now I have done nothing but plan for Christmas. Order and shop for gifts, decorate, photos of the girls with santa, plan and make the Christmas dinner, clean the house top to bottom, remember to get co-worker gifts, bake 4 different types of cookies for cookie trays for the neighbors, donate to charities, enough! I think someday, when the magic of santa has passed, I am all about leaving the decorations in the attic, grabbing my bikini and going on a cruise for Christmas. Just call me Ms. Krank, I guess, but I would love Christmas in the lands where palm trees sway. Let's see, Ava will believe in Santa for maybe 8-9 years, so Bermuda 2013!

Twas 2 Nights Before Christmas 

My Grown Up Christmas List

Typically, around this time of year I begin making up my wish list. I want what I want every year, only it's never available at the Mall. After working with kids through the past couple of Christmas seasons, I wish parents wouldn't screw up their children. The number one thing I see is that kids just need parents to listen to them, to take a few minutes and sit down and listen to them. The number two thing I see is that I wish people that weren't going to stick a marriage out for more than 5 min. wouldn't have kids. I have so many kids that get jockeyed from house to house, that have parents pitted against one another. Kids with so many multiple "step" siblings you need footnotes just to figure out whi is related to who. Mom and Dad, once close enough to have kids, can't even have a civil conversation. Kids having to choose which parent's house to live in. Kids having no father in their lives. Single mom's working 3 jobs to make up for a deadbeat dad. Over half the kids I see have family problems. So this Christmas, I wish people would try a little harder to make their children's lives easier. By that, I don't mean throwing stuff at them, I mean spending time with them and putting them first. I have had nothing but kids in crisis this past week because of the approaching holiday. I'd like nothing better than not to have a line at my door, not because I don't want to work, but because I don't want to see kids in tears. As much as I'd like an ipod for Christmas, my wish is that parents could see what they do to their children and work to make it better.

What if Santa asks me if I've been bad.... 

All I want for Christmas...... 

In Case You Were Wondering...

Steel wool, in case you were wondering, is flammable. I hate to tell you, but I know this to be true. Just this morning, Brian was warming up the snow blower to clear the drive. It's old, in fact, it was left by a tenant when we owned property, so we don't expect much of it. It's lounder than most, so in an attempt to save his hearing, Brian put steel wool in the muffler. It did quiet the noise, except he had a small fire. I wasn't home at the time, but the girls tell me " Just flames, mama." So, Brian put the fire out, and like a Derby Car, if it still ran, it was fair game. Too bad the cable snapped on the next pass down the driveway.
I have been telling him all along, " We live in the North Country, you need a garden tractor with a blower." Guess what he just said we need? I won't even say it.......