Don't Call It a Purse

My children, the little darlings that they are, got me Tinker Bell and The Lost Treasure for Christmas. I don't know who to be more annoyed with: them because at 1 and 3 don't they know me better than that or Hot Jeff for letting them pull a stunt like that. When they left the house to go shopping for "me" I clearly said, "I like diamonds, red shoes, handbags, and fun socks". I guess they didn't hear me over all dishwashing, clothes folding, meal preparation and vacuuming I was doing.

This brings me to today where Project Make Jen's-Bedroom-Into-A-Loveshack started by Bestie Kara and finished by Bestie Shannon took me to Ross' to find the perfect over-the-bed mirror to add some depth to the room, fill a space on a large wall and to, as Hot Jeff says, bring kinky back. Yep, just went there.

You. Are. Welcome.

When I walked in my eyes beheld the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was hanging modestly on a rack until it felt the weight of my stare and then it began to wiggle and come alive and I'll be darned if it didn't cry out to me, "Mama. Hold me."

I simply couldn't justify NOT getting the most beautiful handbag I had ever seen, especially after what my CHILDREN GOT ME FOR CHRISTMAS. So it is mine. And it is beautiful. And I shall love it forever. Merry Christmas Hot River Mama.

(I wish I were better at taking pictures because this one doesn't nearly show how marvelous the bag really is. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a photo shoot with it and post the pics. Right now I have to go help Hot Jeff hang our new mirror. Yes, I did find the perfect mirror but it's purchase paled in comparison to the bag.)

And People Say My Kids Don't Look Alike...

Christmas ~ 2007

Samuel ~ 20 months old

Christmas ~ 2009
Emily ~ 22 months old

We promised Emily that it gets better...

Christmas ~ 2009
Samuel ~ 3 years old

Somewhat Controversial Post...
You've Been Warned

I have already mentioned that my family does the Santa Claus thing and I also said that if you don’t do the Santa Claus thing I totally respect that…and I do. As long as you aren’t being arrogant about it.

So last week I heard from a friend about some acquaintances of hers who don’t do Santa Claus. Their reason: they don’t want “lie” to their kids. I have a little bit of a problem with this, not because they aren’t doing it but because of their reasoning. I think it is so incredibly sanctimonious. Yes, I said SANCTIMONIOUS. How about you come down from your holier than thou parenting high horse and spend a little time in reality? The best part: they do the tooth fairy. Yes, that other fictitious character who apparently IS ok to “lie” about because she doesn’t live in the North Pole. Or MAYBE its because she doesn’t share a holiday with the celebration of the birth of Christ so THAT makes it ok to lie to their kids about.

If you’re going to be a pompous Christian then please, be forthcoming about it.

I know quite a few families who don’t do the Santa thing but their reasoning is they want the full focus to be on the birth of Jesus. Now that I can respect because it is a statement that isn’t filled with the implication that everyone else who is doing the Santa thing is going to hell or is a bad parent who is a lying sack of crap. Also, it isn’t a lie wrapped in self-righteous BS disguised as good parenting.

Santa Claus isn’t a lie; he’s a child’s developmentally appropriate suspension of disbelief and amazing, short-lived ability to make-believe. Children NEED fantasy. The American Psychological Association’s most recent findings on the topic show that children who are encouraged to play make-believe and indulge in fantasy actually have greater academic success in later years. A 2008 USAToday article actually claimed that make-believe and fantasy play were VITAL in a child’s development of empathy, learning, creativity and problem-solving allowing them to conquer their fears and explore their hopes and dreams.

And just in case those 2 sources are too pagan, then how about what Dr. James Dobson (whom I rarely agree with) wrote in a 2008 edition of his magazine Focus on the Family, “I understand the concerns expressed by many Christian parents about the pagan celebration of Christmas. They don’t want to link Santa Claus, a mythical figure, with the reality of the baby Jesus who was born in Bethlehem of Judea. They have good reason to fear that they might weaken the validity of the Christmas story by mixing it with fantasy.

“So this is the dilemma – Santa is fun, but Santa could be confusing...Shirley and I chose to play the “Santa game” with our kids, and we had no difficulties teaching them who Jesus was and is.

“What is best? I don’t know. But if I had to do it over, I would still let my children thrill to the excitement of Santa’s arrival down the chimney on Christmas Eve.”

I’m not trying to persuade anybody to do or not to do the Santa thing. I’m only saying that whatever reasoning you have please don’t be pious about it. You’re not impressing anyone and in fact you may be turning people off to your faith. And if you use the “not going to lie to my children” excuse then, for crying out loud, stick to it for everything. That includes the tooth fairy. And the next time your child wants to play doctor and asks you if you’re sick, I would really like it if you told him “no, and by the way you are not a doctor”. And when your daughter takes a Burger King straw and tries to use it as a magic wand I’d like you to interject a little reality in to her world and tell her there is no such thing as magic and please take that scarf off, it isn’t a pair of wings.

Ho Ho Ho

As I promised, here are the letters Santa wrote the kiddos. They should be arriving from the North Pole in a couple of weeks! If you plagiarize them, I will find out and my wrath and justice will be swift. You've been warned.

Dear Samuel,
Thank you for your letter! Every day after the mail comes Mrs. Claus and I sit down to read the letters that come from little boys and girls from all over the world. We always love to hear from you, Samuel Henderson! You are such a special little boy and from your very first Christmas I knew it would always be a treat to come to your house.

I have asked my elves to make you something very special and I think you are really going to love it. I’ve been thinking about you all year long and am excited for you to see what my elves have made you. You will find it under your Christmas tree on Christmas morning!

It has been very snowy up here at the North Pole. I love to eat soup on cold days and Mrs. Claus always makes me yummy cornbread with honey butter on it! After we get our work done for the day, the elves and I go feed the reindeer and then we run and play in the snow. We like to build snowmen and go sledding.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year because Mrs. Claus and I love to celebrate Baby Jesus’ birthday! We love to sit in front of the cozy fireplace and read the story of His wondrous birth in the Bible. I know you love to read the Bible with your Mommy and Daddy.

Samuel, you are such a special little boy and I know you are a good helper to your parents. Thank you for obeying your Mommy and Daddy and for being kind to your little sister, Emily. It always makes me smile when I think about your tender heart.

Merry Christmas Samuel; I can’t wait to eat those delicious cookies you always leave out for me!

Love,
Santa Claus
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Emily,

I have been thinking about you all year long and am so happy to finally be wishing you a Merry Christmas. Mrs. Claus and I have been busy preparing for this most magical time of the year—the birthday celebration of Baby Jesus! I understand you are just learning about Christmas: the lights, the tree, the wonderful cookies and Christmas songs. You are very young but as you grow older you will learn more and more about why Christmas is so joyous and I hope you will always carry the magic of Christmas in your heart.

A little elf told me that you love hot chocolate! Well guess what? I love hot chocolate too! Mrs. Claus and I love to snuggle up in a blanket and drink hot chocolate and read letters from little boys and girls. We got a special letter from your brother Samuel this year. Next year you will be old enough to send your own letter and I can’t wait to read it!

On Christmas morning you will find a special present under your tree just for you. You are such a wonderful little girl Emily Henderson and I loved having my elves make you this present for you; they put a lot of love in to it.

My sleigh is almost packed full of presents for all the little boys and girls and it won’t be long until I make my way to your house. Be listening for jingle bells on your roof on Christmas Eve night; that will be my reindeer and me. Thank you for the treats you left out for me and my reindeer last year—I can always count on your generous heart, Emily Henderson! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Love,
Santa Claus

That's How We Roll

I know some of you don't do the Santa thing and that's cool and I respect it. I'm sure you have great reasons and most likely your kids will end up evangelizing my kids because we all know that the letters in Santa also spell out Satan. Yep, got it.

We do the Santa thing. We also do the Jesus thing. And in case you're wondering, or just judging, we do the Jesus thing MORE than the Santa thing because we want our kids to understand the real reason why we celebrate Christmas; we just think the Santa thing is pretty darn fun. I'm not going to go in to my tangent on the commercialism of Christmas and why I hate presents because it will only confuse you because, well because, we do the Santa thing. And I know this paragraph is loaded with hypocrisy so why not heap a little more on... Even though we don't get our kids 3 hours of unwrapping worth of presents we do get them all hyped on a present from Santa.

Let me flashback here for a moment and let you know that Samuel has been asking for a Talking Buzz Lightyear for pretty much the better part of 5 months. And for the better part of 5 months we've been telling him that "maybe Santa will get it for you" so that we wouldn't have to shell out the $40 for it during not-Christmas. Well lo and behold a few weeks ago I was pacifying the midgets in the car with my junk mail and Samuel happened to get the Walmart flyer. I'm sure in Samuel's mind this was not coincidence but more like all the stars aligning and the sky opening up and God smiling down on him and saying he was meant to have a Talking Buzz because THERE ON THE THIRD PAGE was a Talking Buzz.

That night we cut it out, pasted it on paper and Samuel dictated a letter to Santa to me. Here it is, EXACTLY the way he dictated it to me (ok, I added the "Your Friend" closing). He is so flipping cute I can't even stand it.

In the full spirit of Jolly Old Saint Nickolaus, since Samuel's and Emily's first Christmases I have written them letters from Santa and had them mailed to them. I send them up to a post office in Fairbanks, Alaska and they postmark them from the North Pole and its super cute and corny and I put them in their baby books. This will be the first year Samuel really gets it and I'm more excited than ever to get "Santa's" letter.

If you're interested in doing this, put your written letter in an addressed and stamped envelope to your child and then enclose it in a bigger envelope addressed to:

North Pole Christmas Cancellation

Postmaster

5400 Mail Trail

Fairbanks, AK 99709-9999

Tomorrow, unless something really exciting happens, I will put their Santa letters up for you to read. Wahoo.

Roo's First Christmas

Ok, so I'm only 10 months old and this is my first time doing this but I'm pretty sure that Christmas is the best day EVER! Are you kidding me? We wake up, go downstairs and there are presents all over the place? There were the biggest socks I've ever seen and they were loaded with goodies: animal crackers, baby dolls, crayons, play doh...yowza! I've never seen Samuel so excited in my life; he was jumping around going from present to present and Mama and Daddy were letting him eat the candy out of his big sock! He never gets to eat candy before breakfast!

Samuel got a big kitchen (just like Mama's) and I got a choo-choo train that I can walk behind! Samuel is a little confused though and thinks its his; he's very good about sharing my toys but not so much his. Maybe next year Samuel will get some manners for Christmas, jeez.

All week long Mama had been telling us that we were going to be celebrating Baby Jesus' birthday so I was kind of expecting cake... Daddy says we can celebrate Christmas in our hearts all year long and I like that idea. Samuel does too because Christmas is over but he still sings "Happy Birthday" to Jesus all day long.

So like I said earlier, I'm new at this but I'm pretty sure that Christmas, and especially the part about celebrating our Savior's birth is pretty awesome. Can you imagine how happy the whole world would be if they kept the joy of Christmas day in their hearts all year long? And I know I'm little and no one listens to me but maybe you big people could remember baby Jesus' birthday a little better if cake was involved. Just a suggestion.

Reindeer Food, of course

Samuel and I were writing a letter to Santa today which naturally led to a discussion about leaving cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Samuel then asked what "reindeers eats" to which I replied what Christmas lore has told us for centuries: "reindeer food". Duh. After the little boy wonder went to bed tonight I hit the internet in search of what Santa's reindeer really do eat and I've decided this will be a tasty treat that Santa, his reindeer and Samuel will all enjoy.

Puppy Chow (now aptly renamed to "Reindeer Food")

9 cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS
Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
In 1-quart microwavable bowl, stir together chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Mommy's Musings: Captain Christmas Jr.
Everyone is always saying how much Samuel is like me; usually the context is Samuel's wacky emotional outbursts however tonight I saw a side of him that is like me that made me smile instead of cringe. I love Christmas: I always have and hence my dear friend, Traci Piltz, years ago dubbed me "Captain Christmas". The name stuck and Hot Jeff now uses the term endearingly each year when I'm barking orders about lights, wreaths and garland.

Tonight Samuel and I ran to Fred Meyer after the sun had already set; it was his first time being out after dark since everyone has begun putting their lights up and he was in awe!! At each turn of the car new glimmering lights would come into view and he would exclaim, "Wow; more Christmas lights!" I took him by a local house that's known for its lights and he giggled with glee at the snowflakes dangling from the trees and the icicle lights that hung from every peak; as we drove off he said, "Mama, I love Christmas lights; they so bee-u-tiful". And if that doesn't make you smile, after leaving Freddy's he asked me if we could listen to "Santa songs" in the car.

So on the way home we sang along with the radio, oohed and awed over lights and my heart felt like it might just burst open with joy; for my sweet little Samuel is a Captain Christmas kindred spirit.

Black Friday
I'd like to tell you that Mom and I revved up the old tradition of being the first at the stores as they opened at 5:00am on the day after Thanksgiving but I can't. It just didn't happen. We haven't done the Black Friday shop since I lived in Montana (11 years ago) so we were a little rusty. We were out of the house by 10:00 though and feeling pretty good about the freedom we were being granted! Our first stop: Toys R Us! I got all my Christmas shopping done for the kids and saved $60! WooHoo! We had a wonderful time; it was so fun being together!

The Toys R Us haul...

At Baja Fresh after working up an appetite