Can we please say something else besides "How much longer till the ball drops?"

So, it is about an hour before the New Year is officially here for me. Because of the time zones, you know, some people are already in 2007, but not me. Not yet. But in about 54 minutes I will be, and then I will celebrate.

Anyway, Daniel and I partied big this year. We ordered pizza and drank Coke. Then after we put Dillon to bed, we broke out a ring of shrimp with cocktail sauce and a bottle of wine. Then we actually watched a movie (my gift to him) on HBO, and now it is time to turn in.

The combination of the wine, the movie, and the time of year made me cry. I was laughing and sobbing ridiculously by the end of the movie (Indecent Proposal - I had never seen it) just about how grateful I am for my little family. Isn't that corny? And sweet, kind of?

So, I don't want to end this all sappy. Do you have resolutions? I think I should, but I am not sure what they should be. How about:

"Do something decent with my hair everyday so I don't feel crappy. I always feel crappy when my hair isn't done, so I should always make some sort of effort to at least make sure it is clean."

Does that work? Does it need to be more specific? What about:

"Make sure to clip hangnails within 20 minutes of their discovery so that I don't pick at them and make my fingers hurt and my hands look bad."

I dunno. That's all I got. And I had the wine, so maybe my thoughts will be clearer tomorrow. What are your resolutions?

Tidbits

Gosh, with a new year starting, I would really like a new look around here. Maybe I will find some extra time to learn HTML. Or maybe I will earn some extra money so I can pay someone to create a template for me. Or maybe pigs will fly this year.

******

Christmas was a whirlwind of activity, as I knew it would be. The days before were spent with family here, then we gallivanted around the state until we visited all of Daniel's family. We got home Thursday, and Dillon and I have been doing some serious napping since then!

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Have you ever had the scary dream in which something happens to your teeth? Like they fall out or turn brown? I have that dream repeatedly, and my mom says it is something about friendships - trouble in a friendship, maybe? That is so weird. I keep my life really simple by not having friends, so I shouldn't have that problem. But I keep having the dream. And the more I think about how often I have the dream, the more I have the dream. Maddening, really!

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A friend (in light of the above note, "acquaintance" is a better word) is having some horrible problems in her life, and I covet your prayers for her. Without being too graphic, her ex-husband seriously injured her father. I think he is stable now, but prayers for his health and recovery would be greatly appreciated.

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I think I am going to trade my television watching time in for time on YouTube. It so much more creative, and there are no commercials!

Merry Christmas!

These next few days are going to be full of last minute shopping, time with family and friends, and some travel, so I want to take a moment to wish you a wonderful Christmas with your own loved ones. I pray that you each take time to reflect on the blessings in your lives and the birth of Christ, the biggest blessing of all!

And, that's a wrap!

We are actually just about done with our Christmas shopping! My extra bedroom is strewn with bags and boxes of gifts. All we have to do is wrap them!

I bought a roll of cute wrapping paper - shiny red with silver dots. I have sheets and sheets of new, crisp tissue paper. No wrinkly leftovers for my gift recipients! No, ma'am! I have an assortment of bags, bows, raffia, ribbon and cute stick on labels. I even bought some little gift adornment things - bells, gift tags, tiny wreaths.

Do you know why I do this? Do you want to know why?

It is because of her. I am highly competitive, and she is the gift wrapper. Every year, her gifts are coordinated and sleek. Crisp corners, perfect taping, smooth paper.

Mine look like giant Tootsie Rolls.

So I am trying. I at least have the equipment. Tonight, Daniel and I will sit down to wrap our gifts. I am sure it will be a lovely three-hour event, wherein the last gifts end up with tiny fragments of paper stuck together with masking tape, or the camo duct tape from under the sink. We will have given up trying to keep black dog hairs off the tape, and all our cute gift decor will have been replaced with the plain white Avery 8160 labels left over from our Christmas cards.

*Sigh*

Well, there is always next year.

Oh, baby!

Go give Kandace some props! She has an early Christmas gift!

Take a hint

I have this Christmas cd that I absolutely adore. It is a children's choir singing lots of classics, but my favorite is a song called "The Holly and the Ivy." I actually never heard it until I got this cd. Is that a popular Christmas song? Maybe it is from before my time.

Anyway, I have been playing the cd in my classroom to get my students in the holiday spirit. (Three out of my four students hate any kind of noise, so they spend a lot of time with their ears covered. However, I am convinced that some of the spirit is seeping through.)

I have played that particular song on repeat several different times, just cause I like it. Today, one student was singing the tune in the cafeteria. She got to my favorite part and abruptly stopped singing. She looked straight at me and said shrilly,"Stop it! Stop it!"

From a person with a non-echoic vocabulary of 20 words, that is a pretty profound statement. Guess we should play something else for a change. Wouldn't want to get overwhelmed by all the holiday spirit.

Free Association

City Employee Christmas Party:

Door prizes! Yeah! Maybe we'll win, maybe we'll win, maybe we'll win. Ah. We didn't. Lame dinner. Jokes about the Sanitation Department. Let's go - and let's not come to this next year! (But we will.)

Christmas Tree:

Are you kidding me? Nothing is under my tree. Not even dust, cause the tree hasn't been up long enough. Gotta get to the store. I place my bet on Walmart, December 24th. Dang.

My foot:

Bruised and broken. My toes don't fit in any shoes without pain. What can I wear? Is it cool to wear flip-flops in December to work? How long does a broken toe take to heal? Blasted baby toys!

Dillon:

Lumbering around, so proud of himself. Hiding the ball under his leg and saying "Wadigo?" which means "Where'd it go?" He is all I want for Christmas.

Laundry:

Tons. Daniel went out of town for a week and his dirty clothes have been procreating exponentially in the hamper since he got back. Must do that soon. Uh, laundry, not procreate exponentially.

Television:

Dreary re-runs. I am stocking up on ice cream for January sweeps!

Bedtime:

Right now!

The hit parade

For entertainment, Dillon and I went to the downtown Christmas parade tonight. We stationed ourselves near the intersection where his daddy was working, in hope that we would get to visit some. We did, between Daniel's repeated explanations to confounded drivers that they could not drive THROUGH the pylons and barriers that blocked the street.

Right as we got settled (me in my collapsible chair and Dillon in his stroller) a large family came to sit in front of us. There were lots of children who had brought assorted pieces of bedding to spread out on the sidewalk. Chain-smoking "Nana" supervised the invasion.

There were several tense moments when Small Child A could not find a place for her "pilla" and it looked like she would not get to take a nap at the parade. Finally, Nana directed her to a place directly between Dillon and me. When all of the children found a place to sprawl out, they discovered that a concrete sidewalk is not a comfy place to rest. They repeatedly popped their heads up and fussed with their blankets.

"SIT DAN ON 'AT PILLA!"

"Quit wigglin' aroun' and be stee-yul!"

"People is tryin' to SEE!"

"Git them covers awf a' him!" Smoking Nana bellowed into my ear.

The shouting did nothing to calm the children, it just increased the noise in our corner of the world. The floats puttered by, music playing, people dancing and singing, horns blowing. Dillon barely looked. He was enthralled by the scene playing out at our feet (and between our chairs).

It was rather captivating. Maybe we will go again next year.