This Christmas

First things first:

For very many reasons, it has been pretty hectic leading into Christmas this year. I dreaded it, and couldn't wait for it to be over. But now that it is, it wasn't so bad. Except for the botched batch of fudge. And sweet potato casserole. But that's okay, cuz it was just us for Christmas dinner. So no one missed out on any of that stuff except for me. I love fudge. But it's probably for the best. I'm starting to pack on a few lbs. We do, however, have an apple pie sitting patiently on the counter. I suppose I'll have to break into that tonight. It will at least make me feel less guilty about eating it. Cuz there's fruit in it, you know? So, it must be better than fudge.

Today has been a pretty relaxing day, for the most part. It helps that everything is closed anyways, so there isn't anywhere to go if we wanted to. But that's fine by me. Finished one book and started another last night, finished one knitting project last night and made a lot of progress on my second knitting project today. So, despite us being home bound (or maybe as a result?), I've been pretty productive.

So, you may be wondering what Santa brought everyone this year?

Here, I'll show you!

I made this at a local pottery store called Paint Yourself Silly, where you can buy ceramics and paint them. I saw this, thought it would be perfect for dh, and wha-la. I even turned it into a candy dish! Not exactly from Santa, but I like to think I come in a close second.

The chocolates are already gone though. This time, not my fault!

A. and her coveted Leapster L-Max (they used to own a regular Leapster and seriously guys, one of the best toy investments we've ever made).

S. has her very own L-Max, too.

To dh from A., also from Paint Yourself Silly.

To dh from S., again, Paint Yourself Silly.

And last but not least, a child-friendly X-box360 game for the girls-Beautiful Katamari:

The goal? You start off with a little glob (your "katamari"- God love the Japanese), and you roll over things, which stick to your glob. You have to make it as big as you can in the allotted time frame. Here's a screen shot:

I have to admit, I'm not sure if the game is more for A. & S., than dh. But it doesn't matter. They sit together, take turns playing, he helps her and S. and everyone has a good time trying to roll over people and boats (really. You can stick people to your glob- katamari-. It's cool, too, because their arms and legs flail once they get all rolled up and I'm like, "sorry bitches. But a glob's gotta do what a glob's gotta do!") It's great!

There were many more gifts, of course. From Santa and us and everyone in between, but these were the biggest hits.

Plus, I took over 200 pictures and I don't want to inundate you with all the great photos I shot.
*say cheese*

Although I probably will post a few others tomorrow. But just a few.

I hope you're holidays are filled with lots of wonderful memories!

There’s Something About Santa

I have felt a cold coming on for days now. So I wasn't at all surprised to find myself hacking all over myself, with another sore throat and a head ache when I woke up this morning. I felt TERRIBLE! And this cold couldn't have touched down at a worse time. Today was dh's squadron children's Christmas party and Santa would be making his grand appearance on a helicopter. Which I thought was pretty cool. So I thought the girls would think it was pretty cool. A. was a hard sell. Because Santa does not ride helicopters, she firmly informed me. He rides sleighs. Of course I told her she was correct, but that Santa also rides helicopters here in Tucson because of the base. Once she got over that, she was all about it. S. was easy, as usual. So then I had two kids who had been looking forward to seeing Santa's unorthod0x entrance to the party.

When I came out of the room this morning, I headed straight for the Dayquil and remarked to dh about how terrible I felt. My voice, apparently, has been sounding kinda hoarse over the last few days anyways, so he wasn't surprised at all to hear that this cold had finally taken me over, either. He thought it was best that I stayed home today. And he was probably right. But I promised the girls. And so, despite the fact that I also began feeling nauseated by the time we piled into the car two hours later, we went. And you know what? The girls were totally psyched about seeing Santa in the chopper, but not so much on the ground- in an armchair- in the hanger where the party was being held.

We all watched him fly in, taxi, disembark and then finally make his way from the flight line to the hangar. And that was all they wanted. When we asked if they wanted to sit with him and talk to him, S. acted as if we were asking her to chew on some grimy, squiggly worms. A. was less dramatic but much more forceful. "No. I don't want to see Santa. I want to play knock over the blocks."

You know what else she told me about sitting with Santa?

"Santa makes me nervous." (it's her new favorite word)

I dragged my sick ass out here and they don't want to sit with Santa, not even for a second?!!! Because he makes her NERVOUS?! I thought. The things I do (like leave the house with the taste of vomit in my mouth) to make my kids happy… Bah Humbug!

But what could I do? We hadn't been there a half an hour. We were NOT going home yet! So we took the kids around to the different tables set up with crafts and cookie/cupcake decorations. And they had a great time with those.

They didn't even cast a second glance to Santa sitting at the front of the room surrounded by eager kids who did want to see him!

What's weird is that A. is usually all about Santa. At least, the idea of him. She's been drawing him pictures for us to send, and later this weekend dh is going to help her write a letter to him. You can mail them "to Santa" from the post office on base and supposedly you'll get a real letter back from him postmarked from the North Pole or something like that. So she's pretty excited about that. But it appears that she doesn't give much of a damn about the "real thing". I think it's because of the beard. How can you trust a guy with a long beard, after all?

While we're on the Santa topic, this month Johnjay and Rich from 93.7 KRQ is on BRAT PATROL! If you have a wild child (or several of them), shoot Santa a line via email with your kid's name, what (s)he wants for Christmas, what (s)he is doing that is so bad, and the best time to call. Santa will then call and have a little heart to heart talk with your brat child and scare him/her straight! I haven't actually heard any of the broadcasted calls, but a friend of mine did. Her daughter (who, according to my friend, has been nothing short of a handful lately- must be something in the water) was in the car with her, and heard Santa talking to a kid whose mom had written in about him. Santa warned this kid that he wouldn't get (insert toy of his choice here) if he didn't behave. Instead he would get a flaming bag of reindeer poo! Upon hearing that, this kid was immediately repentant, and it was just enough to make my friend's daughter reconsider her very own Christmas wish list. "Mommy, I don't want a bag of reindeer poo!" she said. Hopefully, it sticks (the determination to be good, not the poop) and she stops giving her mom and dad a hard time. At least until Santa has returned to the North Pole, where he will hibernate until next Christmas.

So, if you're harboring a pint-sized terrorist between the ages of 5 and 8, you may want to send Johnjay and Rich an email. It doesn't hurt to try, right?