Thank you, Santa!

Maybe you do exist. I didn't get everything on my list, but we did get to sleep in, I got to bathe in peace, and the Spawn actually ate some breakfast. I'll take what I can get.

It was otherwise a Christmas laid-back in the extreme. I, at least, didn't talk it up all that much, except to explain the whole "present" thing and to make Christmas stockings for myself and the Spawn. She got a new doll, which she'd actually asked for, a game which I hope won't break until she tires of it, and a bunch of little bits and bobs I found at a thrift store in her stocking. Those latter were the hit of the show, of course. And I made a warm, if not terribly stylish, hat for the Better Half. Unfortunately, he was too sick to appreciate anything except sleep. Coal in his stocking would have been preferable, Santa.

The Spawn and I went to dinner at a friend's house and a good time was had by all. She had great fun playing with all the cool toys there. Other kids' toys are always more fun, aren't they? Anyhow, it was nice to be sociable for a change, even if it wasn't all three of us.

Here's hoping I don't get that cold or whatever as my belated Christmas gift....

Dear Santa

I've been good this year. Not saintly, mind you, but good. My parenting hasn't messed up the Spawn too badly, I think. I've been kind to animals and little old ladies. I've been kind to my Better Half too, and he certainly deserves it. So this is my Christmas wish list.

On Christmas, I want to sleep until I wake up. I want to perform my morning ablutions in peace and with the door shut, just for fun. I want to walk to the kitchen without having to dodge random toys (which weren't there the night before!), articles of clothing, or piles of cat vomit. I want to cook a nice breakfast and have everyone eat it, not just me. There's more, but I'll stop there.

If you can manage all this, you might throw in cheap cold fusion too.

Thank you.

The new game!

The Spawn has a new game. She hands one of us a puppet and says, "Wear this sad (or mad) mousie." Obviously, the character changes, as we have way more than just mouse puppets.

Then we're supposed to say, "I so, so sad!"

This is the Spawn's cue to say, "What are you sad about? What are you sad about?" She always says it twice too.

Then we have to come up with something for the puppet to be sad about. She questions the circumstances until she's satisfied. Yesterday a rabbit finger puppet was sad because of having lost a piece to a puzzle. The Spawn wanted to know which puzzle and which piece. Then she wanted to put it together to make sure the piece wasn't missing any more.

The final step is for her to say, "You can be sad about something else now."

Repeat this for a very, very long time, cycling through sad and mad until you're tempted to start having the puppets be sad because of the meaninglessness of human existence or something equally non-concrete.

Speaking of seasons

Today and, if the weather forecast is to be believed, tomorrow we're having the last gasp of autumn. Yesterday afternoon it began to clear. Last night we had a real freeze, thanks to that. But today, oh my! It was clear, clear, clear all day long. It wasn't warm, but it was still beautiful out. The sky looked like it would have shattered into a million tiny shards of blue if I'd touched it. You could see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens from top to bottom, with those tops and bottoms being well blanketed with snow already. On Friday, we have a chance of snow down here too. Thus the last gasp statement.

All I want for Christmas...

is a big banner that says, "Axial tilt is the reason for the season." I saw three banners attributing the season--fall turning into winter--to a certain religious figure. The holiday may, perhaps, be attributed to said religious figure but the season? I think not. Maybe to Big Daddy, if you're that way inclined.