the insanity

 Some friends recently gave us this nice bunk bed.  The bottom fold out into a futon.  So now our moon room is also the room of many beds.   You can now comfortably sleep 4 adults!  And there is still room on the floor for more!  Then the kids threw pillows at each other and broke a blade off the ceiling fan.  So they are banned from that room until the end of January.  We have visitors through most of that time so it's just as well.  Luckily the fan hardware matches the variety sold at the hardware store.  So it's a bummer, but that's why there is money in the repair envelope, if a little less now.

This is our glorious 4' Christmas tree.  My mom gave it to us 8 years ago when G was eminent and we had no Christmas decor.  The ornaments are mostly kid friendly.  I was sad that someone recently broke the pinkie off the "I love you" penguin.  M pointed out with relief that now the penguin is signing "L" so it's ok.

 I plan to compare this stately hug picture with future pictures of M with boys.  The picture of her with the vacuum (the fear of which she had finally overcome) was much more affectionate.

 I'm having a real hum-buggy kind of year.  Where is my vapid consumerism and yearning to let the kids believe in the magic?  I've never encouraged any belief in Santa.  Where all the gifts come from?  Grandma, Grandma, Grandma, Grandpa, family, and friend.  This gets us into trouble sometimes when M tells her other friends there is no Santa.  It's also hard on her when St. Nicholas visits some of her friends, putting candy in their shoes, and doesn't visit us.  Harsh! 

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So when M says there is no Santa, I say, "Then who was that guy we saw at the light house?"  And she sagely replies "It was just a man in a costume!" 

lP didn't want to have anything to do with it.

This year I'm really interested in gifts that are consumable and useful.  My "gift" to P is a trackball he needs for his computer.  Woah!  A gift can't be something you were going to buy anyway!  We're at that place in life where we can afford to buy what we need, and if we don't need it, why the heck would we want it?  The predominant philosophy seems to be to spend money you don't have on things you don't need.  Brilliant!  Not that gifts aren't nice, and please send them, anyone who was going to.  But it's nice to be at a place in my marriage where I can be grateful for P replacing the kitchen faucet on Dec 7, and not cry on Christmas day if there's nothing under the tree (like I did 10 years ago).   I'm finally grown up enough to appreciate his satisfaction in doing something necessary, and his dislike of doing things because society tells him to.

So this year I'm mostly interested in giving people delicious food.

Also, I recently learned how much amazingly good food can come from $12 of pork and bbq sauce in my crock pot.  It's probably not a good thing either.  But it is so good and so easy.