Our Christmas Tree 2006

Our Christmas Tree 2006 DSC00857
Here's our tree! No one mailed this to us, though! :-) Long and wonderful story about a friend of ours...

Christmas Happenings

I definitely did the right thing by taking this whole week off. I head
back to work on Tuesday. So far we've had a pretty nifty holiday with a
few wrinkles.

The girls were wonderful on Christmas Eve and Day. Its just so darn
cute to watch them play and hang out with each other. On Christmas Eve,
Super Mom's parents and two of her brothers (the two in province) came
over for our annual Christmas Eve Fete. The girls love their uncle
time!

Christmas morning was wonderful. Kids really do jump up and down with
excitement when they confirm that Santa paid them a visit. Action Girl
(age 5 3/4) really, really loved her "Webkinx." He's a small stuffed
golden lab that she was able to register and adopt on-line. Super Girl
(age 3) is very happy with her Barbie head (the large one with the hair
that she can style). If we were able to get high-speed internet, she
could also play games with him (or at least a picture of him) on-line.
Later on Christmas Day, we went briefly to S-M's parents and then to my
parents. This was an extra special Christmas because Dad's sister, M.
is visiting, along with her daughter G.(my first cuz) and her husband,
C. Very cool to re-connect with them. BTW, my mian gift was a really
cool pair of NEW skates and S-Mom got a new Duvet and cover. Her gift
is more for sharing than mine.

Boxing Day was pretty quiet, although I wasn't feeling 100%. Very, very
achy and sore. Also light-headed. This got worse on the 27th but we
were still able to go to on an out on the 27th to stay overnight at a
local hotel. For less than $50 (with $10 going to the Childrens' Wish
Foundation), the four of us stayed overnight at the same time as Action
Girl age 5 3/4)'s best friend and her mom. We spent a lot of the time
in the pool and a lot of time eating and playing. (Polly Pockets and
stuffed puppies seemed to be the toys of choice.

We got back at about noon today. S-Mom is now quite sick with the bug I
had, but hopefully will get over it as quickly. The other thing that's
going on is that our furnace is refusing to heat our basement. It's
heating the main floor quite well, fortunately. I was on the phone to
our oil company today and my tinkering has solved little, aside from
ruling a few things out.

So, Merry Christmas to you all! There's been a lot written about how
Christmas is a whole lot more when you see it through children's' eyes.
For me, it just adds a whole lot more to the whole experience. Their
wide-eyed wonder puts all the fuss, bother, aches, and pains in
perspective. Ho, ho, ho, indeed! Hope to see some of you later this
week when everyone is feeling better. For now we're just kind of laying
low...

B.

Super Girl's Letter to Santa 2006

Super Girl's Letter to Santa 2006
Originally uploaded by Binky

At age three this is not her handwriting. They were her words, however.

Action Girl's Letter to Santa 2006

Action Girl's Letter to Santa 2006
Originally uploaded by Binky

"DEAR SANTA,
I HAVE BEEN A VARY GOOD GIRL. I WANT A WEBKIN DOG, GUM DROPS RED, AND
[A] BIG PONY.
THANK YOU.'

Fantastic Last Miute Gift Idea!

World Vision Canada has an on-line catalogue that lets you
purchase something for needy kids in the developing work.
The girls bought anti-biotics as a Christmas gift for their
daycare/kindergarten teachers.

Check it out if you'd like:
http://www2.worldvision.ca/gifts/app?service=page/Home

B.

Toe Update

Good News-
Super Mom will not need surgery... We saw the orthopedic
surgeon today and four week of taking it easy (and not
driving) should be enough to heal the toe.

I saw the x-ray. Even I could see a couple of breaks. That
said, she reported a lot less pain today.

B.

Super Mom's Big Break

Yesterday was quite a busy day... At about 9:30am Super Mom
had a desk fall on her right big toe, breaking the bone in
her toe. She hobbled around until she went to the hospital
at about 3pm to have it examined. It is indeed broken and
quite painful!

S-Mom is off work for the rest of the week. Tomorrow
morning she has an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon.
Today she was at home and managed to get some rest.

So, an interesting start to the holidays :-) Nothing
compared to what people with real losses deal with this time
of year.

B.

My Three Favorite Christmas Songs

There are three Christmas songs that I'm comfortable listing as favorites:

(1) "Do they Know Its Christmas?" By Band-Aid (1984)

I actually got choked up trying to explain this song to the girls this morning on the way to daycare/kindergarten/work. Musically its strong and unique (as a mid-80s pop song). Whatever we've been able to say about celebrity musicians and activism, there was a desperate honesty to their desire to save lives with this song. Its earnest and haunting.

(2) "Go Tell it on the Mountain" (Traditional Spiritual)

Christianity is sometimes at its best when its faced with slavery. Its easy to imagine African-American slaves drawing hope from the Christmas story in face of horrible oppression. The message of the season can be that strong, despite millions of dollars spent trying to dilute it,

(3) "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" (Victorian Carol?)

With or without the "Loo loo loo"s in a Charlie Brown Christmas, this is a great song. I love it in large part because of that program, though.

What are your favorites?

B

.

What I'm Watching...

Last night I watched the last episode of HBO's Carnivale series on DVD (originally 2003-05). It ended after its second season (12 episodes). What a strange and creative show...

The premise: Basically in 1934-35 a traveling circus, "Carnivale" moves across the American Mid-West and South. A young man it picks up, Ben Hawkins, has supernatural powers and a mission that has yet to be realized. Ben begins to discover that deeper and more other worldly influences guide the show in its travels. Parallel to this a Methodist minster named "Brother Justin" starts down a path towards a dark plan to fulfill his very evil destiny.

A little bit X-Files-ish, but more mystical and visually stunning, Carnivale was time well spent. Its not a leap to imagine that in America (and elsewhere) the Depression could have felt like the end times. Carnivale was time well wasted in front of the DVD player- it had a different combination of qualities than . I'd recommend renting it (or getting both seasons from the Library like I did).

B.

A Proud Ahmadinejad Denier!

From the CBC:

“Iran's president [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad], who once described the Holocaust as a "myth," opened a conference Monday meant to question the scale of the Nazi genocide of Jews — and whether it even happened...”

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/12/12/holocaust-iran-061212.html




You know, some things are just too stupid to argue with... So, stealing an idea from my very significant other, I'm going to propose that we start a group of Ahmadinejad deniers. If he can deny an unbelievably important historical fact, then who's to say that he ever actually existed. Even Iranian state TV is capable of some gratuitous CGI (computer generated images). He's a fake!

Join me- I deny that President Ahmadinejad ever existed! Such stupidity could never have taken place. Remember folks, you heard it here first.

Deny Mahmoud,
B.

Round-Up

Sorry I haven’t written much lately… Things have been busy and hectic but in some really positive ways. The girls’ Christmas concert was last Friday night. It was a hoot! Cute, but meaningful. Action girl (almost 6) took things a little more seriously than her now three year old sister, but they both tried very hard, were very cute, and enjoyed things.

My Christmas shopping is coming along fairly well. The girls (and their mother J) have all been pretty specific about what they’d like for Christmas. We’ve already bought my main gift. It’s a new pair of very comfortable skates! Skates for the non-hockey-playing dad! Skates for the dad whose skates don’t fit. Skates for me.

B.

And Then She was Three!

Magically, our littlest girl is now a beautiful, determined, smart,
stubborn, and wonderfully creative three year-old. A week ago Sunday we
had a party for her and a few of her friends. On Tuesday (the 5th, her
actual birthday) her grandparents came over for more cake.

Its been more amazing than I could ever explain watching both of our
girls grow. They actually are pretty good friends by now.

B.

News and Reviews

(I promise not to mention the bathroom at any point in this post!).





THE NEWS:
I am starting a new job on Jan. 15th. Given the recent job changes among by bloggin' community, I guess it was inevitable. After 10 years in Child Protection, I am moving to a family therapist position, working with adolescents and their families. The position is only for a year so that makes it a safe move in a way. I actually really like my present job (well, mostly) but have wanted to work in a more therapeutic position since grad school. I'm really looking forward to it but am a little nervous.





THE REVIEW:
Last week we saw Casino Royale and really enjoyed it. By far the most "realistic" Bond flick ever made. You really believe that this guy is an MI-5 (or is it MI-6?) agent and that he's quite good at his job. His job happens to be brutal, bloody one that threatens to consume him, though. Unlike me, he does not appear to be pursuing other employment.

I've been thinking a lot about the whole James Bond mystique- basically this is what I think it comes down to: when James Bond is on the job, Great Britain is still a super power. He is a sign that civilized parliamentary democracy backed by a just but iron fist is still out there. There's a little bit of Ango-phile in most North Americans and I think we're re-assured by him... Just a thought.

Gotta go, my lunch is over!

B.