One Step at a Time

Troy is getting to the age where he is questioning Santa’s existence. He made this Santa craft on the last day of school, which was basically a styrofoam ball head and a removable hat. He decided to use it to design a scientific test for Santa. Reliable, valid, and just too cute.

Santa came through by indeed putting on the hat, and writing a one-word note back: BELIEVE.

PS: I have no idea why we were rationing Santa on oranges. It’s probably the healthiest choice he was offered all night. (We also left him cookies and eggnog and Kokanee beer, which is apparently his favorite.)

The best things about the holidays so far:

1. Watching our daughter play with 99-cent Dora chapstick for 2 hours and realize that we spent money foolishly.

2. Being woken up at 2:06 a.m. by our 6-year old son, fully clothed, including socks, and an exuberant-”I-can’t-tell-time-yet” : “Meeeeeeerrrrry Christmassssss, Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

3. Being invited to my dear friend’s Mom’s house for Christmas dinner, and just enjoying the quirks of someone else’s family for a change of pace

4. Sour, sour cabbage rolls. My husband and I completely disagree on cabbage rolls. My family, of German descent, likes the sour cabbage rolls made with rice and sauerkraut and onion and no beef or tomato sauce. My husband likes the kind that’s really a dinner-in-a-cabbage leaf. Beefy, and with a load of tomatoe sauce. I was soooooo thrilled to have the appropriate cabbage rolls at my friend’s moms, and then my sister-in-law, God bless her, made the lazy version (ie. the rice dish with no cabbage or roll) for Boxing Day dinner. Mmmmmmmmmm. For me, they’re a side dish. And I worship them. I think it’s actually the whole olafactory memory deal: I smell those, and I think of my Grandma’s tiny house. My grandma was the Queen of Appropriate Cabbage Rolls.

5. Christmas Eve sex. No details there, just that there’s not much better than that.

6. My smallest jeans fit me very, very comfortably on Christmas Day. For this, I am grateful.

7. Our church service on Christmas Eve rocked. It was a “kid-friendly” service, and that it was. Lotsa music, some dram, some reading, and some simplicity. My kids loved it, and it was meaningful for all of us. I like seeing kids get it.

8. This movie. I loved it. Laughed hard and cried hard, which are my two main criteria for loving a movie. I think I’ll remember this one (something I’m really, really bad at.)

The not-so-great things about the holidays so far:

1. I’m starting to realize that my parents are aging. It makes me sad, somehow. I’m grateful for their health, but am sensitive to how precious time is, if that makes sense to you. Being at my friend’s mom’s on Christmas Day hit that home, as she lost her dad just over a year ago. There is a very strange dynamic in my family, and how my parents aging factors into that just brought tears to my eyes.

2. Too much stuff?!?!?! Why do we get our kids so much stuff?????? Do we not remember that OTHER people buy them stuff???? I like to de-clutter, as I am very sensitive to how the environment affects people in our family. We don’t have a massive house, but it’s comfortable. Too much stuff definitely affects the mood of the house. Today was better, as I began to find homes for new things.

3. My Lego-building skills. I worked so hard to build this with the boys today. Confession: I faked every ounce of my enthusiasm. Lego is DIFFICULT for me!!!!! It takes a whack of fine motor skills, spatial perception, and PATIENCE?!?!?!? (All good for children, I realize!) I pasted on my “I’m-a-good-mom” smile and went for it, step-by-flipping-step. At the end, Troy says, “Mom, I didn’t even know before that you loved to do this!!!” I hope he doesn’t get me Lego for Mother’s Day.

4. My lack of exercise. Iy-yi-yi. We’ll be having a revisiting of fitness goals, along with most of the planet, on January 1. I did walk to and from my brother’s house for Boxing Day, but upon reflection, I may have rolled.

5. We go to the in-laws tomorrow night. Why is this bad? I’m really have high hopes for this visit, as our last one was so good. I hope I ‘m not being unrealistic or naive. Usually when we go there, there are 30 people visiting, but because we’re going later this year, it’s just us. I’m praying it will be low-key and good.

6. I’m feeling a little restless about getting some our renovations done on my house. We’ve been working on Troy’s room and the basement for way too long. We need the space back, and I’m feeling it this week.

So … how about you?

Merry, merry Christmas to each and everyone of you. You’ve all given me so many gifts this year: of inspiration, knowledge, advice, support. This is an amazing community, and I’m grateful to be a part of it!

Have a blessed Christmas, everyone. You rock!

Does anyone else find the mood of the general public to be ZOO-ey right now?? Yeesh, people. Christmas will come on Sunday whether you have the perfect ornament or the gold raffia that was on sale that you practically snatched out of my hand at the counter … or not.

Focus.

You’d all thought I was sleeping for the past 11 days, didn’t ya???

Well, I have been sleeping peacefully, which is awesome. Lots of which is due to me kind of Ferber-izing myself. If you’re not familiar with Dr. Ferber, he’s the guy that developed the teach-your-kid-to-cry-by-letting-them-scream program. (I’m not judging anyone for using him; we just adapted his thing to make it more suitable for us as parents. But, I digress.) In Dr. Ferber’s style, I’ve gotten strict with myself about a “wellness routine” in my life. Severely limiting caffeine (yep, I’m shaking), a hot, hot bath at night, reading before bed, doing the morning run instead of later, etc. It’s all worked wonders. Then, today, I ran at 7 p.m.. Watched Survivor (yay, Danni!), had the bath, but then just couldn’t settle into sleep mode. So it’s 11:30 something and here I am. The morning exercise is definitely a key for me.

The running is rocking. I’m in a good groove, and I feel a whole new level of commitment to it. Like on Saturday, it was BALMY here (compared to -25 degrees Celcius earlier in the week, which is about -5 billion for the Fahrenheit folks). My son Derek was to go to his cousin’s house for a playdate sometime in the morning. His cousin lives 2.5 k away on a lovely walking path that takes us virtually door-to-door. So, Derek and I ran there. Derek, as I’ve always known, has a natural athleticism. He’s built like a runner, long and lean. I told him so on our jaunt, and he sweetly said, like only a six-year-old can: “So are you, Mom!” Bless your soul, son. And I’ll get you that optometrist appointment soon. So, it’s that kind of thing. It’s working for me. You all said it would, and in RBF-expert-type-fashion, it did. I’m even quietly smug about the running in the cold bit. I like knowing that I did that, I got out for 40 minutes, while the rest of the world snoozed in their down comforters. I’m wierd that way. But I do have a Running Room Christmas wish list a mile long for my hubby.

Work is busy. I’m finalizing practicums for my students. I put waaaay too much pressure on myself about this stuff, wanting to place each one of them in the Garden of Eden Care Centre. It’s ridiculous, and I get way too protective about the quality of their experience at the college.

I love this season. I love baking with my kids all day. Kevin played hockey today after church, so we baked cookies and rum balls and Bev’s Marble Macadamia Nut Bark and then watched “March of the Penguins.” The boys are big on the nature shows. It was an awesome Sunday. And I’ve gotta give that bark away soon, because it is whispering my name in a very sultry voice, if you know what I mean.

I must go and catch up with you all!