Mommy's Present

Daddy tried good and hard to convince me that the present he'd ordered, custom-made for me, was not going to arrive on time. The retailer had messed it up and they didn't think they'd be able to fix it on time. "They offered to overnight it for free," he said.

Right. Daddy might just be getting a clue here, but I'm totally onto him. He makes up these silly little stories every year. And, really, if it had been true, it wouldn't have mattered much. Of course, his gift to me wasn't messed up or late arriving. It wasn't even custom made, but it was still pretty cool. What do you think it might be?

I'll give you some hints.It's not a squirrel.It's not a dog.It's not a plot of land with oak trees.It's not some little mushrooms hiding among the clovers.I don't have to share it with Mam...and it won't make that black eye Smunch got while ice skating any prettier, but it might add just a smidge more beauty to the blog.

Can you tell what it is?

The Main Event

We didn't just spent a ridiculous amount of time getting ready for Christmas this year...although it seems like it after the last several posts. We actually celebrated Christmas as well. My sister and her family, including SPENCER!, arrived on the 22nd and chaos pretty much reigned for a week after that, including on the big day itself.

The kids got up mercifully late...around 7am...but they sure were excited to check everything out. They ripped through their stockings so fast that I didn't even get a photo of that part. They had to wait until Gram and Grandpa arrived before they opened anything else. But the wait just made ripping into the presents that much sweeter.Mam got the much anticipated Mariposa Barbie from Santa and jumped up and down like a spring for many moments afterwards. She didn't seem to believe her good fortune.I can't believe she asked for a Barbie doll with big giant butterfly wings. But there you go. She also got her rainbow maker, which is a really neat little do-dad that has a rainbow-casting crystal that spins when driven by a solar-powered little motor, making rainbows twirl all around the room. She also got a new/used big girl bicycle, on which she immediately caught up with her big brother.Smunch got the money-counting bank he asked for and set straight to convincing it that he had put in $30.38, when it was more like $2.95.He also got a set of Snap Circuits that he already loves and a football to throw around with Daddy and Grandpa. Another of his favorite items was a framed photograph of Cal Ripken, Jr., his favorite baseball player next to Tim Lincecum. After all, Mr. Ripken was an Oriole and one of the most famous Orioles. Nuf said.Spencer was enamored with a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.He was so thrilled, in fact, that he didn't get to his "big gift" for a couple of hours. But as soon as he opened his own Razor scooter, he was off on the street with Mam, between rainy downpours.Finally, we all sat down for a scrumptious Christmas breakfast of well...scrumptious, not-at-all-healthy things. Then we sat around in calorie-induced comas while lazily watching the kids play with their new toys. Just what every Christmas should be like!

Least and Last

I don't know exactly why I felt these two things warranted mentioning, but somehow I couldn't stop myself. This holiday season, we also attended two memorable shows with the kids. The first was a kid-friendly one-hour matinée performance of The Nutcracker.I'm no ballet critic. I've never taken a ballet class in my life, but I hated the way they'd abridged this version for kids. I guess all the essential plot points were there...girl has party with eccentric uncle, girl gets nutcracker, nutcracker comes to life, they fall in love...but there were no Sugar Plum Fairies. How can there be a Nutcracker with no Sugar Plum Fairy? In fact, most of the lovely dance numbers were cut. I guess that's just as well for the preschool set. The kids were fairly bored with the whole thing anyway. I tried not to let on that I was fairly bored too.

In a more exciting performance, we also got to attend a holiday party where their idol, Andy Z, performed.As you can see, they may not be so cultured that they enjoy ballet quite yet. In fact, they may never enjoy ballet much, but at least they know how to turn on the enthusiasm for the things they do appreciate!

Santa

There were a lot of questions about Santa this year. Smunch has been feeling skeptical. It makes me a little sad. This year, I booked our local Santa (through Parks and Rec) to come to our house for a visit. I thought if there was anything that might restore Smunch's faith, that might be it. Santa arrived, fortunately early since we'd booked his very last visit at 8:30pm. The kids are often out cold by then. But he and his elf showed up just after 8. It was kind of fun, but it was hardly a rip-roaring success.Smunch surprised us all by asking for an electric train for Christmas...something he changed his mind on later, necessitating another Santa visit at the local mall...which was just as well since I love to have all the photos since 2004 of the kids with Santa at the mall. You can see my commemorative post about that last year, where I posted each of the photos. Here's the latest addition.This time, Smunch asked for a bank that would count his money for him and Mam wisely reiterated her request for a Mariposa Barbie. She also had me write Santa a note asking for a rainbow maker.

So we've got plenty of photos with Santa this year. Here's hoping Santa's magic lasts for another year or two...

What's wrong with this picture?

This year, Smunch's Cub Scout pack went to sing Christmas carols at an old folks home nearby. Some little sisters like to be the center of attention ALWAYS. Some big brothers don't always appreciate that.Who can blame him, really?

Crafty Holidays

Compared to many mommies I know, I'm hardly a crafty one, but I really went overboard for the holidays in 2008. I always drive myself crazy with projects at the end of the year and this year, was no exception. Instead I went exceptionally overboard. It's a wonder I made it to 2009 with any brains left at all.

It all started with the chocolates...I've made truffles every year for the past few years. They look really impressive, despite being pretty easy and they make great gifts for the teachers. Some cute little boxes from Michaels and a little menu of all the goodies inside, all tied with a festive bow. I don't know if the product really measures up to its appearance. I try not to eat many out of self preservation. But they sure look nice!Then came the cookies. I always make a whole bunch of cookies and have fun letting the kids decorate them with me. This year, I offered to take cookies to the staff appreciation luncheon at Smunch's school, so that put a little more pressure on. Still, I made far fewer cookies than I've made any other year. I just had too much other stuff going on. Just sugar cookies, gingerbread, white chocolate raspberry bars and something my family calls Graham Sensations.

I found a really fantastic gingerbread recipe this year and it got all kinds of raves. Too bad it was such a pain in the rear to deal with! And I didn't like how the cookies held up, despite having lots of flavor and remaining moist and chewy. Still, they were cute when they were all dressed up.I brought this platter of cookies to the luncheon, leaving precious few for my neighbors, who probably expect cookies from us by now.As happy as I was with my little tray of cookies, I felt really bad when the other mom who brought cookies indicated that she thought hers just looked too ugly next to mine. I bet they were just as tasty and she didn't spend her whole evening decorating. In some ways, her cookies were almost certainly the superior product.

Then came the class gift. In a moment of supreme volunteerism, I signed up to be the head room mom for Smunch's classroom. I like it. I feel like I'm "in the know". But it's a lot of work. I won't be doing it next year, I'm pretty sure, but then I've got another opportunity with an incoming kindergartner in Mam. I really like Smunch's teacher, so this isn't the biggest chore I've ever had. I'm just not super at delegating. Anyway, I digress. As room mom, I'm responsible for the class gift for the holidays and at the end of the year. I made things super easy for myself by sending the teacher a questionnaire at the beginning of the year, asking her about all of her favorite things...stores, restaurants, hobbies, etc. So I collected the money and set out to buy her a few gift cards for her favorite places. Naturally, I couldn't let this get by me in an uncrafty sort of way. I got a cute little rosemary bush at OSH, dark chocolates, gift cards to Macy's, Starbucks, iTunes, Target and her favorite Mediterranean restaurant. I added a bow. It turned out like this:It was a blast putting this together and seeing it turn out pretty well, but as you'd imagine, my head was swimming in "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..." and I couldn't let that little opportunity pass me by. Seriously. How could I not find a way to put this creation in a brown paper package tied up with string?? Am I the only one who would see this as an imperative?To cap that whole little theme off, it turns out The Sound of Music is actually another one of Smunch's teacher's favorite things...but I didn't know that until after the gift presentation.

Last, but not least, I had this brilliant idea that I could get more moms to volunteer to help out at the annual classroom gingerbread house-making activity if I could make the younger siblings feel welcome. So, I offered to put together a few extra houses for the little kids (including Mam) to decorate. Because, you know, I was already making all the icing for the classroom anyway. What's a few extra houses, right?Turns out, it's really not that hard to make little gingerbread houses when you're not trying to do it with a bunch of first graders. I put together four tidy little extras in no time. But wait...at the last minute the teacher also told me she wanted all the candy I'd solicited from other parents to be sorted into one bag per student. Ack! Good thing it wasn't like the holidays were coming or anything!Fortunately, the big kids had a great time decorating the houses they'd made that morning...and the little kids were thrilled to join in. Even the one little sibling who showed up unannounced had his own house to decorate. It was sugary and messy, but such a success!

Singing and Santa

After missing the annual Halloween Sing at Mam's school with the stomach flu, I was happier than usual to make it to her Holiday Sing this year. And the realization that this will be the last preschool Holiday Sing made it that much more momentous. Nevermind that they sang most of the same songs they sang last year. It's always well done and always very cute.

I can never really tell if Mam is singing or just making really exaggerated mouth movements to the words, but she's into it, at least.

The kids and their parents always gather for snacks in the classroom after the show. She was thrilled to get compliments from Daddy.But she was even more thrilled when Santa came to visit the classroom.She couldn't wait to get in line with the other kids to tell him how much she wanted a Mariposa Barbie.And so the holiday season really begins...

Oh, Christmas Tree...

I'm easing back into the blogosphere slowly. Really slowly. In fact, I may try to minimize all the words and go for just the pictures for the next few posts. I had a lot of things I wanted to chronicle over the holiday and, as you'll have noticed, that didn't happen. I'm about to start blogging the holidays now that the tree and all the decorations have been taken down.

So, let's start at the beginning. Yet again, we went up to a tree farm in the mountains and cut our own Christmas tree this year. This is one of those traditions my parents always had and I can't quite leave behind. My parents, on the other hand, talked wistfully about getting a fake tree this year...until we swayed them by inviting them along on our little logging adventure.My parents are always speedy fast at selecting a tree. Daddy and I take forever to select just the perfect one, with me nixing a bunch of his picks and mine and him nixing a few as well. Generally speaking, this method pays off with a lovely tree. This year was no exception. We had a great tree. Here's Smunch giving it a final inspection on the hillside.And Mam, registering her opinion of our choice.She thought it was the perfect tree...or maybe she was just so tired of trudging up and down the hills in the waning chilly sunlight that any ol' tree was going to get the two thumbs up!

Notes from a Winter Wonderland

I've got all sorts of things from the holidays that I'm still planning to post here, but for now, this little Mamism will have to do. Yesterday, we arrived at a somewhat famous ski resort. The kids have never seen more than a few inches of snow, so it was a momentous occasion and the kids were very cute.

Me to Mam: I love you more than anything!

Mam: I love you more than anything except the snow.

Bring on the Lights

Each year, our town has a ridiculously well-attended parade on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. As an adult, I don't think I'd spent my time or body heat going to the parade, but as a parent, this is an absolute must. The kids just can't miss the Festival of Lights parade and now that Smunch can read, I don't think he'll ever let us miss it again. There are too many fliers and posters about.

Although they changed the rules about saving yourself a spot this year...people used to put out chairs and tape of pieces of sidewalk for themselves days before the event, it didn't help. There was barely a spot left when we arrived nearly an hour before the start of the parade. Still, the kids had fun with glow sticks and running around in the street before the main event. I brought a thermos of hot cocoa, which turned out to be a brilliant idea.As with every year, downtown glittered with lights on the trees and lighted floats on the streets.The wait for Santa may have been a little long for us mere adult mortals, but I suspect it was worth every minute for our little folks. Apparently, excitement can keep you plenty warm!

Giving Thanks...for Pie!

This year, I hosted Thankgiving at our house. It was a seriously low-key event since only my parents joined us. But the six of us had a nice time and ate extraordinarily well. I even managed to roast a decent turkey this year...an improvement over my last endeavor a few years ago. But, of course, I didn't take any pictures of the bird. That's because my specialty when it comes to things like Thanksgiving is pie.

I learned to make pie when I was a preteen living in England, so I have a somewhat British style of doing things. Although I always forgo the lard that I learned to make pie crust with (this year, I used just butter as an experiment, but I usually use shortening), but I still use my hands to "rub" the fat into the flour mixture. I don't know that this is any more efficient than any other method, but I like to get my hands dirty. After learning that way, it feels like the "right" way to make pie crust.

Of course, I had to make the obligatory pumpkin pie. When we were given the opportunity to make whatever we wanted one day in "Cooking", I made a pumpkin pie. They don't have pumpkin pie in England and although I made one fit for a magazine cover, the teacher gave me just 8 out of 10 for mine. I doubt she knew what to make of my flat-centered, shiny creation. I hope she would have seen fit to grade this one higher.My other standard for the holidays is an apple/cranberry pie. I often just throw in some whole berry cranberry sauce, but this year, I opted for fresh cranberries instead. Yummy! I started out with heaps of apples and cranberries.And because I'm just that way, I had to cut cute little apples out of the top and attempt to make it all artistic.It sure looked pretty, but I also learned that cutting such big holes in your crust makes the apples on the top dry out. Good thing I put so many apples in!Yes, we ate dinner before diving into the pies, but really? Who cares about turkey and stuffing??

Flutter By

So much to catch up on, but, of course, I won't be catching up on most of it...ever. There are still a ridiculous number of Christmas cards to be sent and a few presents left to pick up. Thankfully, I'm mostly done with my shopping, thanks to Amazon and a couple of great post-Thanksgiving sales. The chocolates for the teachers are made, but there are still lots of cookies to go, at least in theory. Even the invitations for the baby shower I'm helping to plan went out in the mail yesterday...to my great relief!

Long before Thanksgiving, however, a friend of mine asked me if I'd like to raise some caterpillars. She was on her second or third batch at that point and I thought the kids might have fun watching them grow. She mercifully gave me only five little 'pillars and I lamely forgot to take any pictures of them as they grew. But grow they did and sooner or later, they started hanging from the roof of their little Gladware home.It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the chrysalises were a beautiful greenish, metallic gold color until the butterflies were about ready to emerge, when you could see their black and orange colors through the "skin".Of our five caterpillars, only three made it to full butterflies, the other two turning to chrysalis mush in the container. Still, we had some lovely little butterflies.But after a week of seeing no sign of mating activity (suggesting maybe we only had one gender in there)...and realizing that it was going to become awfully hard to find hollyhock leaves for new caterpillars with winter coming on strong, we chose a sunny afternoon to let our three butterflies flutter away. And that was possibly the most fun part of all!

For Calibelle

Today the University of Alabama is playing Florida in football. I know what you're thinking. Why do you care??? I don't care. It's true. But Smunch? He cares deeply. I asked him why.

"I care because Austin lives in Alabama!"

So there. See, Calibelle? Your son may not be around here anymore, but he's far from forgotten : )

Mildred

When I was a little girl, I visited my grandparents with my family. In the room where my sister and I stayed, there was a photograph of this beautiful young woman. I didn't find out until much later that it was a photo of my grandmother. By the time I knew her, she was a very short, obese woman who didn't resemble the photo much at all.

My grandmother died of colon cancer at 71. She lived in Texas and I have spent most of my life in California. My parents always considered themselves poor, although I think they really just believed that airplane tickets were a luxury they didn't want to afford. I could probably count the number of visits with my grandparents on one hand. So, I never knew them well. But the photo stuck with me.

When my grandfather died, many years later, I made sure I went to his funeral and helped my mom clean out his house. He was my last living grandparent, but I didn't really know or like him a whole lot. Mostly, I went to Texas just to find this photo. It was the one thing of my grandfather's that I really, really wanted. I picked up a few other things while I was there, but I was mostly sorry to have brought back a sofa, a coffee table and a wing-backed chair. The photo, I've never regretted.

Today, one of my very favorite things to do is ask Smuch who this is a picture of...the picture of the beautiful young woman. He never fails me. "You?" he says.

Catch up

It's been almost a month since I've posted anything. It's not really that I've been so busy. I'm busy a lot and still manage to make time to post things. I think it's mostly been a big case of the blahs. For instance, it's nice to have the kids back at school this week, but BLAH, I'm struggling to enjoy the routine of drop-offs, pick-ups, speech therapy, swimming, gymnastics and baseball sign-ups. I'm really looking forward to baseball season. Sounds like we'll have the same great coaches (including my dad) that we did last year and that means a lot of great moms for me to hang out with too. These are the same fantastic women who got me interested in being on the PTA board...not by recruiting me, just by being cool people who I'd like to know.

And, oh yeah, PTA board. My partner in crime and I need to figure out what the heck the "Spring Event" is...'cause we're in charge of putting it on in May. By all indications, it's going to be a relatively low-key affair.

And then there are the baby shower invitations I need to order for one of my bestest, oldest friends in the world (we met in kindergarten). And the Christmas cards. And that holiday letter I have yet to write. I don't think I've even got paper for it. *sigh*

I even got a little bit of paying work today...which adds to the load, but it's still really good news. I'm always thrilled to have a little work to do on the side...something that makes me feel like I'm contributing, even though my November invoice would barely pay for dinner out at Chevy's.

Anyhoo. I'll be back. I swear. I've got a cute little post planned and some pictures to post. And PIES. Of course. : )