Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas.  Ours was lovely.  This year Christmas Eve was pretty much like any other day because Charlie was out doing some shopping for the house.  What shopping you may ask?  More about that later.

Christmas day was so nice.  By 6:00am we relented and let the children get up.  They had been up multiple times starting at (go ahead guess-- 5:00?  no. 4:00?  Not even close. ) 2:00 am.  Needless to say Mommy was a bit tired.  We all saw what Santa brought us and then got ready for church.  By 11:00 we were back at home, but brunch in the oven, and opened the rest of our Christmas gifts. 

It was pretty exciting.  This was the first year we have given the children gifts.  In the past Santa has brought all the gifts for the kids, but this year they wanted gifts from us with the understanding that Santa would not want them to be spoiled so they would get less from him. 

All the gift were well received.  Actually that is a huge understatement.  There was much hooting, hollering, and screams of joy.  Model Magic has been swished.  Games have been played.  Tents have been pitched.  Science experiments have been performed.  Dolls have been put to bed.  It was great!

Hope your Christmas was equally blessed.

Breaking

Both Charlie and Wonder Boy started breaking [boards] in Tae Kwan Do last month.  I missed Wonder Boy's first break, but I caught his second and Charlie's first.  It was so cool.  I burst into spontaneous cheers when they did it.

All Souls Day

Today is the day that we remember those who have died, but not yet attained Heaven.  These are the souls in Purgatory undergoing purification before entering Heaven.

Today I pray for:
my father-in-law
my aunt
my two grandfathers
my grandmother
my great grandmother
those who died alone and forgotten

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.  May they rest in peace.

Moving Soon

We just bought our dream home.  Wanna see it? 

Hey it reenacts, too!  It's really a modern suburban colonial pretending to be Victorian.  It was built in 1954 and totally remodeled a few years ago.  We should move right around Thanksgiving.

you never know

Little Bear has frequent outbursts.  Some days it is fine, but when he is tired, hungry, or overstimulated things can get ugly.  What follows can be maniacal laughter, shouting, biting, spitting, or hitting.  I have actually been overhauling our daily routine to reduce the possibility of problems.

The other day I was at gymnastics and this kid, who was about 9-10, was having a complete fit.  Yelling, threatening, demanding.  He was totally out of control.  One part of me thought, "Boy, have I been here.  My son acts just like this sometimes."  The other part of me wanted to get up and shake this child and tell him that he should be ashamed of his behaviour and how he was treating his mother.  Then it struck me that you just never know some one's situation.  This child could be autistic,  He could could be a foster child from a traumatic home.  He could be moving from one parent to another one.  He could be newly adopted.

I was quick to judge and I know better.  So I just want to remind everyone that when when you see a child acting out in public, he could be a brat or he could have suffered a life time abuse. 

You just never know.

My new shoes

Pookie: Mommy, those are ugly shoes.  Why did you buy ugly shoes?

 By the way, those are the shoes in question.  I think that they are cute.

Tucked petticoats

Pookie has also acquired two tucked petticoats.  I am thrilled with how they turned out.  They give great "poof" to her dresses.