It smelled like Christmas today.

Outside the air was cold and crisp. No matter where you went, there was the slight smell of woodsmoke in the air. It's the kind of weather that puts a smile on your face, knowing the best holiday of the entire year is on it's way. It's the kind of weather that makes you want to cuddle up on the couch with a blanket and a good book, hot cocoa in one hand and ginger cookies in the other. It's the kind of weather that made me add graham crackers, Hershey bars, and marshmallows to my shopping list for tomorrow.

My kids have never had s'mores. This is a grievous error that soon will be rectified.

I'm anxious for the holidays. I'm looking forward to spending real quality time with my extended family. I'm looking forward to the sights and smells that have comforted me since my childhood. Grandma's house always smelled like something baking. I'm almost in tears with the joy and the anticipation.

Iz will probably remember this Christmas. She's old enough. I hope it brings her as much happiness later on as my memories have brought me. Even if those memories decided to leave out the names of my fourth cousins (and other obscure family members).

It's weird, after you've seen someone every Christmas your entire life, and you don't remember their name. You're past the point of no return. I can't ask. How embarrassing would that be?

"Ummm... hello... I know I've seen you every year since I was born, but I was wondering if you could tell me your name just one more time?"

Nope. Besides, I remember all the important ones.

The only thing missing will be Grandpa. It will be my first Christmas there without him. The other part of the "anxious for the holidays" is whether or not the villagers will revolt when reality hits. In my head, I know he's gone. In my heart, I can't envision Christmas without him. Especially since I don't carry a knife, so I guess Dad will have to take over cutting the strings on the hay bales, so the kids can feed the cows. I don't have any idea who is going to call them to dinner, though.

*sigh*

Not Michael Keaton!

Thus the tone was set for my Thanksgiving break. It all came about because of arguing who played the voice of Chick Hicks in Cars... which led to an IMDB search... which led to my future brother-in-law trouncing all of us with his superior wisdom. Love ya, Scott!

Yes, yes, yes. It was a time for family traditions, one of which was one bird and ten desserts... much to the detriment of my diet. Luckily, even the pumpkin cheesecake couldn't thwart my new metabolism. I didn't gain anything during Thanksgiving. I know you're jealous.

The Thanksgiving menu consisted of the usual bird, stuffing, green beans, baked beans, southwest corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and homemade rolls. Dessert consisted of pumpkin pie, pecan bourbon pie, pumpkin bread (one with chocolate chips and one without), pumpkin cheesecake, pineapple upside down cake, cherry pie, and ice cream.

If I never see another pumpkin again I think I'd be okay.

Or at least for another 361 days.

We played Uno and watched movies. Uno is a family tradition. We laughed until we cried. I'm not even sure what we were laughing about, but it was probably made funnier by the White Zinfandel. Or the Blue Moon with orange. Yep, wine and girly beers are a tradition, too, at least for the women. This is not insinuating that Blue Moon is a girly beer, but it definitely becomes so with an orange slice dangling off the side like a daquiri. Manly beers are a tradition for the men, so we also had some Fat Tire and Shiner Hefeweizen floating around.

Oh, and Gramma taught the kids how to roll down the hill into the ditch and play in leaves. I still don't know whether or not she knows she was being caught on family-cam.

All in all, good times.

Back in the Saddle Again

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Only going to spend a moment here, gotta do the Thanksgiving Betty Crocker thing and make some pumpkin bread. And pack for our trip.

It's a holiday, and you thought I'd be staying home? Ppppppffffff..... Haahaa!!!

Also gotta find someone to watch the pups last minute, since the person I had to watch them forgot about it and is now going out of town. Not her fault, I should have been better about reminding her so I would've known not-so-last-minute. :(

Busy busy busy and no rest for the weary. Just pray my kids cooperate today so I will still have hair to celebrate Thanksgiving with.

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Translation, please????

But for the grace of God, there go I...

I've been thinking about this a lot. It's really brought a lot of humility to (what I didn't think was) my judgemental attitude. I didn't even notice I was doing it. But then again, 99% of us don't. A woman in my group today again brought this up, and another commented that you shouldn't ever say, "My (child, husband, self, whatever) would never do that..." for the simple reason that you'll end up learning your lesson the hard way by experiencing it.

It's how I've learned to detect those who don't have children. Those who have never had a child that (we're pretty sure) has ADD. Those who have never had a Houdini child. Those who have never had a child cry all night until you give in and let them sleep in your bed. Those who have never thought that leaving the store when your child starts acting up is giving them exactly what they want.

And they say such hurtful things, even when they don't know you. After my Houdini child escaped from our locked back yard and ran into the street, trailed by my son and our three dogs, one person who helped me round them all up actually said to me, "You need to watch your children." And gave me a horrible You're a bad mom look.

That man either never has had children, never had a child that wasn't stumped by his locking mechanisms, or it's been so long that he has had that child that he has forgotten what it was like. Like forgetting pregnancy pain. I always told myself I'd never forget that pain. But I did.

That is just one example of the quick and the judgmental in this world. How was he supposed to know that I'd gone through four different locks in the past month trying to outwit her? He would've known if he'd asked. If he'd had a little...

Empathy.

Which brings us to our next point. When you see someone you'd like to judge, please put yourself in their shoes. Imagine what that poor, tired mom's day has been like before you judge her on bribing her children to be good for five minutes so she can finish getting groceries. Could that man that snapped at you have lost his job today?

Patience. Empathy. Love. All in a perfect world.


P.S. Thanks for a lovely weekend, Mom. I loved getting to spend some time with you, Dad, and Sis. I'll be praying for your Board notice this week. Love you.

No Children

Today has been... weird. I woke up and got ready for our playgroup at church, only to call my friend who is the coordinator to find out that it was cancelled. So I decided to go to an estate sale instead.

Backtrack to last night... we had another family over for dinner, and we were just cleaning up when I got a phone call that my friend Tom was outside our house. He wanted to make sure we were up before he knocked. Tom has a talent for showing up unannounced, but we love him so we always let him in. He crashed here last night. He's in town for his girlfriend's birthday, so we get to see her tonight, too, even just for a little bit.

So Tom's at my house and I take the kids to the estate sale. I unload the kids, think to myself that it's a cute house, and wonder about the guitar I saw advertised in the estate sale's flier. Since the entire block is full of cars, I'm hoping that being there only an hour after it opens means that I got there in time enough to grab it before someone else did.

I walk the block to the entrance and see several items I might be interested in. I'm counting my money in my head, seeing how much I can spend, since I already see several items I'm interested in. Then, a big glaring neon green sign on the front door.

NO Children/NO Ninas

I stop in my tracks, so much that my daughter runs into my legs. They can't be serious. What kind of people are they???

Instantly two scenarios come to mind:
1. They think all kids are noisy, unruly brats that break everything they touch, wreak havoc and cause trouble for no reason. They think I'm going to wait until they are tired and cranky and then bring them to their estate sale to break things and annoy their other customers. These are usually people that didn't have kids, and for good reason.
2. They honestly think something bad about ME, the mom of the rejected chidren. I'm going to refuse to take responsibility for my kids, I'm going to let them jump on the furniture. I'm going to come in, let them rearrange their preorganized affair and then leave without buying anything.

Both scenarios are obviously insulting. Still, I wanted that guitar. So I tried to stop a lady that was obviously working the estate sale. I stayed outside so that I could be respectful of their wishes. I called to her three times, and she completely ignored me. So I decided they didn't need my money.

I felt horribly for my kids. They're good kids. I actually took them at a time when they weren't hungry or tired or needing attention. They were looking forward to it. My four-year-old daughter kept asking me why we couldn't go in. I didn't know what to tell her.

On the way home I was struck by how much construction was taking place near my house. New roads, new buildings, everything is under construction. And I had a happy thought: property value increase. Yay.

I consoled myself and my daughter (baby boy was taking a nap) with some baby carrots and hummus dip and a huge glass of water. It was exactly what I was craving. Yum!

Note to self: When did I become such a health freak?????