My Frakkin Blog!

Yes - the countdown clock is getting closer and Ryan is almost over the edge - which, in turn - is about to drive me over the edge!  His excitement is getting so built up he doesn’t really know how to let it out other than running around all over the place, not listening, and just being a regular 4 year old in anticipation of Santa’s arrival.

Well - I had to pull the old “I’ve got Santa’s phone number” thing.  It worked for a little bit.

He was poking his little sister in the head.  I told him to stop.  He looked at me, then poked her again. Here’s how the rest of it went down:

Me:  If I have to tell you one more time, I’m calling Santa Claus

Ryan: You don’t have his phone number!

Me: Oh yes I do!  Every parent gets his phone number as soon as we become mommies and daddies.

Ryan: Right! What’s his phone number?

Me:  1-800-North Pole

At this point - he had that kinda cocked-head quizzical look on his face.  Then he decided to test it - he didn’t even take his eyes off me.  He just kinda reached out - then poked his sister in the head again.

Me: Okay. That’s it.  I’m calling Santa! (as I’m walking towards the kitchen to the phone).

Ryan: Nooooooo! (he’s following me now)

Me:  I told ya if you did it again I was calling! (picking up the phone).

Ryan: I won’t do it again.  I promise!  Don’t call Santa!

Me:  Fine.  But, I swear - if you’re mean to your sister again, I’m calling him.

Ryan: Okay.

I think that lasted a couple hours.  But, now - I only have to threaten to call Santa one time then he stops.

So, on Monday Mary gets a call from her Aunt telling her that they are in the area.  She was wanting to know if it would be okay for them to come visit on Christmas day.  So, Mary’s like - sure - absolutely!  So, her aunt and uncle will be coming.  Then during the course of that conversation, the aunt lets her know that one of her other uncles would be flying in to see them, so, she was wondering if it would be okay if he came along as well - Sure - absolutely!

So - Mary calls her mom to let her know about this news. So, her mom finds out that her sister and her brother are going to be down here - so - apparently, after she gets off the phone with Mary - she talks it over with Mary’s dad - and she calls Mary back to let her know that they’re coming down now too!

Only AFTER she learns that we will be having 5 additional guests did she call me to let me know the story.  It’s not like I was going to say “no” or anything.  Her family is always welcome in our home - but - this is the first time any of her family has ever celebrated Christmas with us.  I’m sure it will be fine.  We’re used to a house full of people…what’s 5 more, right?

Okay - got them downloaded!  Here are just a couple pictures of the outside of our house, at night.

Hopefully, you guys can make out these pictures okay.

These are the best angles I could get.  I was thinking about taking these at twilight - but - wasn’t sure if the full effects could be seen.  I think I will try to take some twilight pix tomorrow and see how they look.

After looking at all of these pictures, maybe you have noticed the same thing I have  - it is noticeably dark on the right side of my home.  Looks like I’ll need to put up some more lights, at least on the right side of the house.

I’ve also noticed that the corner of the house, just behind the choo-choo train needs something else.  Mary has to work tomorrow - so - I told the kids we’d hit target or walmart and see what other kind of lights or light-up yard ornaments we can find.  They’re really looking forward to it.  In fact, I think I’m looking forward to it too!

Okay - so, it’s not really the camera’s fault.  I guess in a way, it is my fault.  The actual title of this post was supposed to be “Christmas Lights” - but - it quickly changed.  When I went to load up the pictures - the camera would not come on for me to download them.  I guess I probably should have checked to see if the battery was charged.

So - I guess there will be a delay before I get the pictures up of the external Christmas lights.  Sorry!

But - some good news for you other BSG fans - in case you haven’t heard - the final installment of BSG will begin January 16, 2009 on the Sci-Fi channel!  WooHoo!  I’ve been jonesin’ for it to come back.  However, I’m not ready for it to be the final season just yet.

If you’re interested in catching up before it premieres next month - you can watch all of the prior season episodes at the Sci-Fi channel BSG website.

Anyway - pix will be coming soon.

Alrighty - got the first set of pictures to show you guys - these are from the inside of the house.  Mary is still buying things to put up on the inside - so - as she continues to add - I’ll take a few more pictures and post them up.

First - a couple different angles of the Christmas tree.  Also - if you take a look at the mantle to the left - you’ll see the countdown calendar that I referenced in an earlier post.  Also - you’ll see that mantle is very bare - well - long story short - while I was putting the Angel up on the top of the tree - I hit the mantle on the way up - which knocked down and broke all the ceramic figurines.  I owe Mary a new Manger with all the pieces, a couple Angels, and one Santa Claus.  Oops!!

I also had to repair the mantle - I knocked it loose!  Also - you’ll notice there are only two stockings - Kylie’s and Ryans.  We actually have 11 - one for each kid, one for Mary, one for me, and one each for the dogs.  But, we figured with a 2 and 4 year old - it would be safer this year if we didn’t put them all up around the mantle.  I would rather have had the stockings up - at least I wouldn’t have broken all the

And - here’s one of the steps.  Mary likes to collect different figures - here’s the beginning of them.  I’m sure there will be more by the end of this Christmas.  Anyway - this is the last of the pictures for tonight - I don’t want to overwhelm you all!

Also - you’ll notice a gate around the stairs - some of you may remember the whole Kylie saga last April when she broke her arm.  For those of you that are new - she fell down from the third step there and broke her left forearm.  I’m kinda lazy and don’t want to hunt through the archives to post it up here - but - if you follow the tags for Kylie - you’ll find the broken arm posts.  Anyway - that gate is now our and her protection.  She can’t get up the steps any more on her own.

I know, I’ve said it before - I am SO SUCH a SLACKER!  Actually, this is not the case today.  I didn’t get an opportunity to put up the lights today as I had planned.  You know what they say about plans..right?

Well - things started off right - Mary would do her thing and I would do my thing and then I would get to the lights after I was done doing my thing!  Well, my thing consisted of doing homework, updating and balancing the checkbook, writing and paying the bills, putting the Angel on the top of the tree (Mary can’t reach it even on a step-ladder), super-glue some broken ornaments, and put up a wall decoration.  Once I got all that done - then I would get to the lights.

Well - I should probably update the checkbook more than once a month - that took me a heckuva lot longer to do than I anticipated.  Anyway, I got everything done on my list - but - by that time it was already dark outside.  I don’t like to put lights up in the dark cuz - well - while I consider myself to be somewhat nimble and coordinated - you never know what’s out there in the dark that might cause some unanticipated injuries.  20 years ago I never would have cared about that!

Anyway - I’ll get the lights finished tomorrow and I promise the pictures will be up!

Yup, feelin’ like a kid again!  I always do this time of year.  I think part of what is making this so exciting for me is the excitement that Ryan experiences every day.  We have a count down calendar on our mantle that we update every morning.  Actually, we let Ryan change it over.  He’s starting to get countdown fever - and - it’s catching.

Likewise, he’s starting to learn all the Christmas carols and he’ll just break out in to a song at any time in any location.  I have a tendency to join him!

Well, tomorrow I will finish putting up the lights outside.  I’ll get both daytime and nighttime pictures and post them up here.  Mary did a great job on the inside as well.  I’ll get some pictures of that and post them here as well.  I’ll try to spread them out a couple days so not to bog the page down with picture loading.

Anyway - how about you guys?  Anybody else starting to feel that buzz in the air?

Well, we just got done watching that Christmas Classic - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. I have watched this show every year since I was a kid and when my older kids were just kids. Maybe I’ve changed, but, wow - I certainly saw this show completely different this year than any other year before.

Is it me or is this actually kind of a sad story?  It sorta makes all those reindeer, elves, and Santa Claus look like hypocrites doesn’t it?

First - the head elf completely disses Hermes because he wants to be a dentist instead of an elf - so - he sings this song about being a misfit and a nitwit - then runs away. Personally, I think he was discriminated against because he’s Greek?

Next - Santa and the reindeer make fun of Rudolph for being different. This kid can jump higher and further than any of those other reindeer, but, he is discriminated against just because he has a red nose?  And -Clarise’s dad says “No doe of mine will ever be seen around a red-nosed reindeer”  RACIST! So, Rudolph sings that same song about being a misfit and a nitwit - then runs away (editors note:  just how the heck is it that both Rudolph and Hermes knew the same song?)

Then, Hermes and Rudolph meet next to a Christmas tree.  Hermes announces that he is “independent” and Rudolph exclaims the same.  I never really noticed this next line - but - it’s a classic- Hermes then says - ‘Hey, let’s be independent together’ - I actually laughed at that line. Then they run away together.

Hermes and Rudolph run in to Yukon Cornelius after they both run away and Cornelius kinda looks over them while at the same time trying to hunt down that bumble!  First - I don’t know if we should really trust this bearded old man who’s been out in the wilderness on his own for a really long time - with kids!  Seriously, what’s up with that?  Rather than help them find their way back home to the adults - he takes them with him.  Wouldn’t that be like kidnapping or something?

On their journey - they come across misfit island where all the unwanted toys live.  How the heck did all those broken toys get there anyway?

Well - I think we all know the rest of the story.  Rudolph’s mom and Clarise go searching for Rudolph and get caught by the bumble - Rudolph, Cornelius and Hermes come to the rescue - Hermes goes all Dentist like on the bumble and then Cornelius goes all suicidal attack and they both go over the cliff.  Well, after that the survivors all go back to the North Pole where Rudolph and Hermes are suddenly accepted!  What hypocrites!!!

Additionally, Santa makes a special trip to misfit island and picks up all those so-called unwanted toys.  First - if Santa is supposed to be omnipotent and know everything - why didn’t he know about these toys?  If they really are unwanted toys - how the heck is he going to unload them?  Is he going to drop them off with all the poor kids and cheat them out of the new unbroken toys?  Sure - what the heck - they won’t know any differently, right?

Oh well..maybe I’m gettin to be an old fuddy duddy or something.  In any case, I still think it’s a great show.  As a kid, I know I really enjoyed it for what it was - a great Christmas story about some misfits who overcome adversity and help to save Christmas.

Happy December everyone!  Welcome to the last month of 2008!  This is my favorite month and my favorite time of the year.  From this point forward I will be waiting in anticipation for Christmas day to arrive.  There are three reasons why I get excited waiting for Christmas:

Being a Christian - I can’t wait for the day to come to help celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord.  I know it probably isn’t his ACTUAL birthday - but - even symbolically - it’s a great day

I love seeing the anticipation in my own kids’ eyes and the build up leading up to the day that Santa Claus arrives.  I remember the anticipation myself as a kid.  Believe it or not, I was 9 years old before I found out the “truth.”  However, as an adult, I still believe because there is a Santa in all of us!

I especially love the festive feel in the air around this time of year.  All the brightly lit homes, the frost nipping at your nose, toes, and fingers (yes, even in Florida it gits a bit chilly this time of year); the smell of pine trees all around; fires in the fireplaces; and there seems to be more cheer all around.

This month always brings more optimism for me as it seems more people are helping others and trying to be good.  It is a feeling of hope that there just may be a chance we could all get along everywhere around this world.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me - but - I’m just really happy we finally made it to December!