So we’ve had Christmas at my mother-in-law’s house, our good friends’ home, our home, my other mother-in-law’s home and now we’re off to my mom’s house.  A break tomorrow, then my aunt’s, and the next day I think my dad is coming in from N.O.  The 30th we go to Houston to visit friends, and then New Year’s Eve some good friends of ours are coming for dinner and fireworks . . .

I hope I live to see January 1.  Ha!

read this article on a teen in Jackson, Missouri that wanted to wear a kilt to his high school dance.  I personally don’t see what the big deal is.  The kid apparently has a genuine interest in geneological research and the heritage of his family after seeing “Braveheart” in 1995, and I’m sure his friends know of this interest.  Therefore, his wanting to honor that heritage wouldn’t be a disruption (like the principal fears).  As long as he wears some boxers, the kilt comes down to his knees, which is a lot more decent than what I’ve seen a lot of high school girls wearing.  Seriously, have you seen some of the dresses girls wear to prom these days?  Low-riding skirts and belly-baring tops . . .

That principal needs to have his head checked if he thinks this is “disruptive”.

A coincidental sidenote — we were visiting Jackson, Missouri in 1995 and saw “Braveheart” while we were there.  I wonder if we were in the theater at the same time this young man was?  Hmmm?

Just don’t know how much more we can take . . . and yet, we always seem to come out okay with God’s help.  I am so ready for this year to end and 2006 to begin.  My guy’s dad had to have another surgery today (his appendix ruptured two months ago and his recovery has been wrought with complications).  My truck’s transmission went out end of last week.  Of course, it required a complete ($1600) overhaul.  Right before Christmas.  Fortunately I had some blind orders coming through that almost covered the expense.  Everyone is so stressed and no one is ready for Sunday.

I’m about ready to say “Stop the world, I wanna’ get off!”  Not really, but just slow it down, for crying out loud!  I’ve been reading a little book called “The Hundred Dollar Holiday:  The Case for a More Joyful Christmas” and I would love to put some of what it talks about into practice.  It’s difficult to do something so revolutionary without the cooperation of one’s family.  Actually, I think my husband would cooperate and my daughter would get used to the idea — but the rest of the family . . . well, that’s a different matter!

I’m going to contemplate ways that I can improve things for next year, though, because I honestly don’t enjoy the season anymore.  Too much pressure, too much stress, not enough relaxing and family time.  And by family time, I mean my immediate family of three.  Love the others, yes I do, but we are so crazy chasing all over the place for the benefit of the rest of the family that there’s nothing left for the three of us.  Not.  At.  All.   The.  Way.  It.  Should.  Be.

Not at all.

Well, I’m going to go get a good night’s sleep.  The transmission shop is supposed to deliver the truck to me in the a.m. and I’ll have lots of rubber to burn getting caught up from the two days that I’ve been without wheels.

If you think about it, sure would appreciate prayers for my father-in-law — both for healing and salvation — not necessarily in that order, as salvation is definitely the more important of the two.  Thank you.

1. What time did you get up this morning?

All I can say is WOW.  We went to see “The Chronicles of Narnia” this afternoon and it was simply wonderful.  Jami was so enthralled by the story, the visuals, the whole enchilada . . . it was a blast to see my girl leaning forward in anticipation of the next moment and then cuddling against my shoulder during a particularly tense scene only to lean forward again as if she could get closer to the action by getting closer to the huge movie screen.

All in all, I feel like they were incredibly faithful to the overall story and I LOVED the fact that they didn’t pussyfoot around the whole concept of Aslan’s taking Edmund’s place (the parallels between the story and Jesus taking our place were very clear, at least for those familiar with the Truth). 

An absolutely beautiful movie that pays honor to the classic literature from which it comes.  I think C.S. Lewis would approve.  I recommend that you see it as soon as possible, and maybe even more than once.  Jami asked if we could see it again as we were walking out the door of the theater and wanted to start reading aloud again as soon as we got home!  I promised her that we would do some more reading Saturday evening before we finish decorating the Christmas tree . . .

A recipe for Pottermom, who loves cranberries:

Frozen Cranberry Salad

• 1 lb. fresh cranberries


• 1 orange, peeled


• 2 (3 oz.) boxes cherry Jello


• 2 c. sugar


• 1 flat can crushed pineapple, unsweetened


• 3/4 c. pecans, chopped

Wash cranberries.  Grind cranberries and orange in food processor.  Dissolve the Jello in 2 cups boiling water with 2 cups sugar.  Add the cranberries, orange, pineapple, and pecans.  Pour into long pan or dish and freeze for 6 hours.  Cut in squares and serve.  This is awesome at Thanksgiving, and I recently discovered that it makes a pretty neat dessert when topped with a little whipped cream or Redi-whip!

Enjoy!

(Note to Lori:  I hope you don’t mind me borrowing these from you — I’ve had a bit of writer’s block lately, and these are fun and have actually gotten me writing again . . . )

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? This is tough! I love chocolate with a passion, but egg nog is a once a year treat. But don’t mess it up by adding whisky (or whatever the heck kind of firewater it is people insist on putting in it) . . . it’s supposed to be creamy and sweet and smooth, like a dessert in a cup, with a dash o’ nutmeg.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Gifts from Mom and Dad were wrapped, gifts from Santa were sitting under the tree.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I’ve had both, but I prefer white lights outside and on the tree. They make me think of stars in the winter sky, or maybe little ice crystals.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Helloooooo? Of course!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually not until the second week of December. My husband’s birthday is the 4^th, and we usually don’t do anything until after celebrating his birthday. We’ve always had fresh-cut trees until this year. Tree prices have gone up (due, like everything else, to increasing fuel costs) and so we decided to get one of the pre-lit artificial ones. I have mixed feelings in that it’s a lot more convenient to decorate, but I do like the whole “hunt for the perfect tree” thing.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? How can I exclude dessert???? Stupid question. Honestly, this kind of question relates more to Thanksgiving in my mind. We don’t always have the same things on Christmas, so there’s nothing I look for EVERY year. For Thanksgiving, the answer would be Indian Corn Casserole. For Christmas, it has to be a dessert because there’s nothing else to think of: fudge and/or divinity.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? As much as I love cold weather, I loved the two Christmases I spent in St. Croix (we lived there for 14 months). I was not quite fifteen the first Christmas, and I remember going in all these little gift shops with the coolest Christmas ornaments with tropical themes. We have handpainted ceramic fish and palm trees, tiny little wooden angels hardly bigger than pencil erasers, round balls covered with seashells . . . the weather was beautiful, in the breezy 70’s (too funny to see down islanders wearing sweaters because it was “cool” that time of year). I remember going snorkeling on Christmas Day, not because we were on vacation, but because it was something to do (like playing tag football in the front yard on Thanksgiving stateside). I loved it. I miss it.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Honestly, I don’t think I ever remember “believing” in Santa Claus. I think I’ve always known that it was just something fun that we pretended. I’ve taken the same attitude with my own daughter from the beginning and for this reason: Telling a child that a fat man in a red suit comes down the chimney only to tell the child later that this is all “pretend” (a) sets the child up to doubt your word and (b) causes confusion when you try to teach the child that there is an almighty powerful God who created everything and cares about us, but we can’t see Him. “So Mom – what’s the difference between Santa and God? Why should I believe there’s a God, when you told me there was a Santa, but now you say there’s not???? Hmmmm????”

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not traditionally, but my husband has started this weird little tradition of his own – he takes one of my gifts from him to each place we visit and gives it to me there to open. So I open one gift at his mom’s, one at his dad’s, one at my mom’s, one at our friend’s, and whatever is left I open on Christmas morning. So opening my gifts takes three or four days, rather than a couple of hours.

10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Usually a random assortment, depending on what mood strikes that year. Santa (AJ) is not picky about his sugar fix, as long as a big glass of milk comes with it.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love snow. Last Christmas was the most awesome Christmas “gift” we’ve ever had. Seriously, I’m 41 years old and that’s the third time it’s snowed here and the first time on Christmas. While I like to be properly dressed for the weather, I love the cold and either a soft, fluffy grey cloud sky or crystal blue sky. There’s something incredibly invigorating about the iciness in the air that makes me feel so alive. Everything seems clean and new – I do so hope that there are seasons and beautiful winter days in Heaven.

12. Can you ice skate? Can I walk across a room without running into something? Nooooooo!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? When AJ and I first got married, he bought me a globe and gave me the world. I’ve always thought that was a pretty darned romantic thing to do. A couple of years ago, he remembered how much I liked a certain Lamp Berger in a gift shop in Lake Jackson – I was so surprised when he gave it to me for Christmas. A very lovely and extravagant gift, for sure!

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with my husband and my daughter. All the rest is secondary.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Well, I mentioned fudge/divinity up above. But those are more like candy, so as far as dessert goes – I make an awesome “yule log”: chocolate cake made from scratch rolled around a filling of sweetened condensed milk, chopped pecans, and coconut. Pretty incredible edible stuff.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Waking up each Christmas morning in our own home. We made a rule that once we had a child, we would always be home for Christmas morning. And so far we’ve not broken our commitment to that.

17. What tops your tree? A beautiful angel made out of paper doilies, construction paper, and sequins – Jami made it when she was in kindergarten.

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Do I have to choose? They both are so much fun!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? “What Child Is This?”

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? I like “Bob’s” brand traditional peppermint candy canes. Although, I have to say, they are getting more and more difficult to find. What’s with all the weird flavored junk?????? I don’t want blueberry flavored candy canes. That’s just not natural.

I think we may all live . . . horrid, vile, virus has struck our home.  My little girl suffered through it Friday night.  Thought I’d escaped until Sunday night.  Then my guy came home from work early today and has spent the afternoon ill.

You know those moments when you think you’d be better off dead?

This was definitely one of them.