Santa comes early...

Okay, so we don't really believe in Santa in our house. Our kids are the ones who ruin it for all their friends. Yup, there goes another childhood dream.
We did our own Christmas tonight. A trip to Double T for dinner (James ate my eggs, but there was enough corned beef hash - absolutely delicious! - for me to have a good dinner too) and then home for stockings and presents. This year Jamie knew what to do, and he did it. He tore into those presents and had fun the rest of the night. Poor thing had to go to bed without his new Duplo train... lots of crying. Hopefully it will bring good dreams of playtime for tomorrow. Dot is happy with more playmobil and a copy of American Girl magazine. She can't wait to do her two new crafts, but we won't open them until we get back from our family Christmases.
Jim was eager to play with his new toy, a joystick that plugs into your tv - with Ms. Pacman, Galaga, and other "old" games on it. Even the kids wanted to play with it. I am happy with my new kitchen toys and cd. To top it all off, my long-awaited LL Bean slippers arrived today, and I am so happy! They are so comfortable and warm. No more cold toes while washing dishes!
Wonder of wonders, the house is still clean from all my work today. Let's hope it stays that way!

good books

Lately I have entrusted a lot of my reading time to one man - James A. Michener. His books, while long, are very good reads. They combine the fiction I like with the history I like. On top of all that they also have quite a bit of geography, but don't let that put you off; the descriptions often make you feel as if you have been there your self, and want to go back for more.
Michener was not a Christian, and it shows through in his books sometimes. For example, in Centennial there was a whole chapter dealing with the evolution of the animals of the west. It was hard to read, to tell the truth. Also, as he tells the stories of the people you sometimes get exposed to bad language and questionable morals.
Overall, his stories are incredible, pulling you into those families, following their histories, successes and failures. If you had the time, you would want to read the whole book in one sitting (but that is hard to do, since most of the books are well over 600 pages).
Right now I am in Mexico, with wonderful descriptions of bullfights. I keep wondering if this really agrees with what Mexico is like. Hey, Joel, what do you think?

ornament

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, I received an email from Jim telling me he had a task for me. I was to help make an ornament for the office Christmas tree, something to do with the theme of a security enhanced Christmas.
Last year I made a small tree for Jim. It had penguins (Tux, from Linux) and little cardboard cd's on it. Dot loved helping me make the ornaments, and wishes she could see the tree again. (Alas, we cannot go to his office, and he cannot take pictures there...) Why couldn't they just use last year's tree???
Anyway, by the time Jim came home I had a list of word ideas. He liked the idea of a safe, so we went to Joann's after we ate dinner. I found a small square unfinished wood frame ornament and some silver cardstock tags - all on clearance! When we got home I painted the frame silver and started cutting up the cardstock. Jim printed out a picture of Tux with a Christmas tree, and we mounted that in the frame. TaDa! Tux's Christmas is "safe"!

Sick

Last week Jamie had a runny nose, but seemed to get better by the weekend. However, Sunday morning he was running freely again, so he couldn't go in the nursery. We had to go to church for the morning service, so Jim sat with him in the foyer. By the time we got home, though, we were feeling quite tired as well, so we decided to stay home in the evening. (Skipping church, can you believe it???) It's a good thing we did, as I definately have caught the cold now, too.
This bug is mean for a cold. No temperature, so you're not really 'sick', but you are really tired, almost like when you have the flu. I wish I could spend the day in bed... but I have two kids and a mountain of laundry. So, caffeine is my friend. I am sure the kids will get away with more than they should, but I will be happy just to make it through the day.

*** Tuesday morning: Last night Dot woke me up around 1am to ask for anti-nausea medicine. I had just given her a dose when it came right back up. So now we are dealing with the flu, too. Just in time for Christmas... Oh well, she seems to be doing a little better this morning, but we'll take it slowly.
*** Tuesday lunch: Dot asked for tomato soup, then proceeded to eat it with animal crackers. I think it must have been a very short, possibly 12-hour bug.

Merry Tuba Christmas

This Saturday we went downtown for our own family Christmas Tradition - Merry Tuba Christmas. Here in Baltimore it is held at Harborplace mall - right on the inner harbor, out in the elements. It can get quite cold with the wind, so it's a good thing there is no seating for the crowd. We all cram together and stay as warm as possible.
The official count for the tubas was 175 musicians. They didn't count the crowd... but it had a good turnout. Jamie was particularly happy to see a few dogs enjoying the music, too. Both kids were surprised to hear the Constellation fire a cannon at 4 pm. (Someday we will take them on a fieldtrip to that ship!) We were all happy to get back to the car, though, in order to warm up!
To round out our family day we all ate soup (it's hard to beat tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches!) and watched Christmas videos... and ate up a lot of our Christmas cookies!

not for me... yet.

I get quite a few update emails from different companies, most of them dealing with foods. This one made me think of a few family members and friends. They, of course, are gourmands and wouldn't really be interested in something like this...
I am not interested enough yet. The email told me that homecafe now can make tea as well. However, it isn't that hard to make a good cup of tea.
I sure could use a good cup of Earl Gray right now... with a little milk and sugar... yum!

when the cat is away

As a stay-at-home mom and a home-schooling mom I have found that I distinctly lack time to myself. I have had to rework my schedule quite a few times... perhaps it is a good thing I am somewhat spontaneous. One thing I have had to "fit in" is my internet time. Obviously, when Jim is home the computer is generally being used by him. Dot is another computer hog, but she usually leaves it in Windows, and it takes a long time to reboot into Linux. When I do want to be on the computer I have to fit it in with cleaning, laundry, cooking, teaching, etc. I also need to decide if I can leave the kids by themselves.
Today I left Jamie in the living room watching Cat in the Hat so I could do my email. Of course, I found myself interrupted when I heard him taking his diaper off... I went out and reattatched it, and came back to finish online. However, when I was done, and went back out to check on him, I found him without a stitch of clothing, standing on the couch (minus cushions), having a puddle at his feet...
Some things you can take pictures of to use as "blackmail" in the future (i.e., teenage years); this was not one of them. I will have to remember this one...