Scared of Santa

I never have understood how parents get such delight out of forcing their children to sit in the laps of strangers whenever the holidays come around--that's right...I'm talking about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Okay, I do admit that it makes for some really adorable pictures, however, it is my highest recommendation that the parents do a full background screening on the Bunny or the Claus before plumping their children into their laps for photos.

Quite frankly, I can't say I blame the children for getting upset and screaming. I'm nearly 24 and I would get upset and scream if someone forced me to sit in this guy's lap.



It turns out, being scared of Santa is actually pretty common.

The game

So, it has been extremely quiet this week in the office, seeing how there are only three people here on my side of the building: me, my boss, and one other Meeting Planner. Everyone else is on vacation. Truth be told, I haven't been very productive this week because I keep thinking about everyone else who is having the time of their life while I am stuck in the office. Okay, okay, so I had my vacation last week, but I still think if the majority of the office is going to be gone this week for vacation, so should I.

To my delight, I received an email from my boss a few moments ago that was sent to my entire department. It read: "We have really been busy this week with you gone." Then, it gave instructions and a link on how to play Polar Bear Batting Practice.

Click to make the penguin jump, then click again in time for the polar bear to hit the penguin across the ice.

This game is very addicting! It was nice to know that even my "higher ups" aren't very productive this week either. :) He actually came down and watched me play for a bit. My high score was 321 (his was 311).

We spent the entire time arguing that what he claims to be a "polar bear" is really a "yeti" (according to the sign)...either that or the big white guy from "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." Makes for one scary polar bear if he's right...

This made coming to work today all worthwhile. :)

Bye, bye Christmas

I've been on vacation, so I have been neglecting my blog. :( For my few faithful readers, I apologize...

Christmas is over. The tree is down and the ornaments put away. No more 24 hour Christmas tunes on 94.1, no more packages left to be opened, no more Christmas snacks or egg nog (blech!). All that's left of Christmas are the long lines for returns and the huge markdowns on all of the holiday decor.

It's funny really...just two days ago everyone was in the Christmas spirit, being polite, joyfully giving lots of money to charities or toys to children in need and allowing people to pull out in front of them into Christmas traffic with a smile on their face. But once December 26th starts, people get mean again. Suddenly the shoppers become aware that they have had to wait in a 2 hour long return line and they start to get fussy. Cars don't allow other cars to pull out in front of them to get into the flow of traffic--and if someone tries it, the other car nudges up to be sure the other car can't get in, then curses them as they give them the finger and speed away. Everyone starts to realize that holiday eating is over and that they need to start working out to fit into the new pants they got as a gift...what motivation.

Yeah, Christmas is over, definately over...and with it went the nice, friendly people that tend to show up one month out of the year. Kind of leaves me with a feeling of emptiness and sadness--but not for long because I realize that its only 11 more months until the jovial, giving people return. Three-hundred and sixty three days until Christmas. :)

We caved.

The excitement that I have for Christmas reminds me that I still have that innerchild inside of me. I finished all of my Christmas shopping, and like a 10-year old girl I crawl up beside the tree each evening and just stare at all the packages underneath it. It can be really overwhelming sometimes as I think about what could be inside of each of the ones addressed to me and as I think about each person's response to opening the gifts Mike and I bought them.

This is mine and Mike's first Christmas together as a married couple. Lucky for me, he has the innerchild inside of him also. Each night as I start to brush my teeth before bed, I can hear the rustling of the wrapping paper as he sorts through the presents and picks out the most oddly shaped ones addressed to him and tries to guess what is inside. I never let on if he is remotely close, but usually he hits them right on the money. I just smile and say, "I don't know...guess you'll have to wait and see."

This morning was just like any other Saturday (except that it is the start of my last vacation of this year). We finished eating breakfast and Mike asked me when we were going to do our Christmas together. I, of course jokingly, said "Ummm...today?" I could see the flash of delight come over his face as he said, "Really?"

We came to the conclusion that we would open one present from each other. So, we fished all the presents that we had bought for one another out and grouped them together so we could pick the perfect one to open a week early.

Thank goodness for that little innerchild in both of us...our eyes got big and we got so excited that we decided to open them all! So we had our Christmas a week early. It was so much fun. Mike did a wonderful job buying gifts for me...he always does. He seemed to enjoy the things I got him (well, he should have! I bought him most everything he wanted from his list!)

So now, while everyone else is still lurking around their trees at night shaking packages and wondering what they got, Mike and I get to enjoy our gifts already.

Childhood

As we drove down our neighborhood street, I asked Mike what the pink stick in our neighbor's yard meant. He told me that it showed the bus drivers that a kindergartener lived there. Then a moment later he asked, "Who would make a kindergartener ride the bus?" I quickly answered, "I did." Not only did I ride the bus, but I would come home to an empty house sometimes...we kept the key to the house hidden behind the deep freeze in the garage. As I remembered back to my kindergarten years, I realized how much safer we were back then. Back when it was okay to leave a 5 year old at home alone for a few minutes...that was nearly 20 years ago (I feel really old being able to say that).

And of course, after thinking about that, my mind began to wander back to the time when I was a child...how safe I felt, and how carefree everything was. My sister and I would go back into the woods with all of the neighborhood kids and play for hours without even thinking about checking in with Mom. Audrey and I would camp out in our backyard for days hoping Dad wasn't praying for rain. We would ride our bikes up to the school and play on the toys or walk around the track around the school. I can even remember walking from the junior high all the way to Braum's with Laura during the summer. We were too tired to walk all the way back, so we went to her Grandma's house and had her take us back to the school. Does that make my mom and dad bad parents? Of course not...it was just a much different world back then...

Oh to be young again...where bills were nonexistant and gas was simply something the kid next to you in class suffered from. And everyone giggled because it was funny. Where the most important thing was whose house you would spend the night at that weekend or who won the basketball game the night before. Where Barbies were cool to play with and SuperMario Brothers was a luxery. Where the kid who had a computer in his house was the richest kid in the class. Where holiday parties at school meant homemade treats and costumes. Or where any place was a good place for an imagination. And where Mom or Dad would meet me halfway on the walk home from school with a snack prepared at home in the kitchen.

Life was good back then. Life was enjoyable with no worries. Memories are great things. I am happy to say that I have good ones...especially from my childhood. May we all take the time to remember the carefreeness of our childhood, look back, and smile.

P.S. We made it to day 11 of blogging... :)

Predictable...

One of the things that I struggle with on a daily basis is my ability to make it to work on time. I could leave for work at 7:40 and make it to work at 8:10 or leave my house at 7:15 and I would still make to it work at 8:10! What is the deal?!

Well, this week I am proud to say that I made it to work on time or even EARLY (can you believe it!) everyday...until today. :( I think it is truthfully impossible for me to arrive on time 5 days in one week. I was excited this morning as I was gathering my things together at 7:27 because I knew that I would be at work on time! As I bent down to pick up my bag the house phone rang. I looked at the callerid and was greeted by Mike's work number. As I answered the phone Mike asked me if I had an extra set of keys to my car. Well, no--why would I be responsible enough to make an extra key to my car?! Apparently when Mike picked me up last night from mom's, my purse tumbled over and my keys fell onto his floorboard.

I remember making a spare and giving it to my mom, but the likliness of her knowing where it is after the move is probably nonexistant. But I called her anyway. Sure enough she didn't know where it was, but she offered to let me drive her car to work today so that Mike wouldn't have to drive all the way home from work to bring my keys to me. How sweet. :)

What frustrates me the most in this whole situation is not the fact that I left my stinkin keys in Mike's car, or that I had to drive Mom's car to work today, or even that I was forced to eat an extra cookie while I waited on Dad to bring me the car...what frustrates me is the fact that I knew that my chances to be at work on time 5 days in a row were over...and it was only day 3! It must be that perfectionism that is creeping out again...

The Snowmen

The Rice Krispies site has a lot of good ideas for holiday treats. Among them I found a great idea for making Mr. and Mrs. Snowman. Now, I don't know about you, but whenever treats with faces on them are placed in front of me to eat, I have a really hard time with that. I mean, come on...can you really look at these faces and think about how good they would taste?

I certainly couldn't, which is why these two little guys, which were the only two left after having shared the others with my family, did not get eaten.

They suffered a worse fate...they got stale and I had to throw them away. :(