• Early December Notes

    Man, have we had trouble getting the girls to put Christmas lists together this year. In years past, we normally had detailed lists from all three well before Thanksgiving. Followed by daily updates. This year, though, has been much harder. L. gave us a list about a week ago. C. and M. both started lists, but they kept disappearing or…

  • Holiday Jihad #1

    Yes, that hallowed holiday tradition is back. It’s time for the first Holiday Jihad of 2014! This one just baffles me. Last week I added my annual bookmark for the site Christmas TV Schedule, so I can be sure to record the best shows of the season. I scrolled through to find the highlights and noticed one show in particular…

  • Thanksgiving Notes

    So, I’m putting this together beginning at 10:40 Sunday night. Christmas Vacation is on TV. The tree is lit. A Bell’s Christmas Ale is at my side. Yes, it is the most wonderful time of the year. Man, the holiday weekend went by fast. It seems like minutes ago we were out to eat on Wednesday night, watching basketball on…

  • Turkey Day Tradition

    This is better suited for a Friday Links post, but since I just saw it today and it’s relevant to tomorrow’s holiday, I thought I would go ahead and share it today. I think I had heard of this before, but never read the details. In 1939, President Roosevelt decided to change the date of Thanksgiving to add another week…

  • Pre-Thanksgiving Notes

    A busy few days between get-togethers, kid activities, and prepping for Thanksgiving. How about a few notes? M. has kicked off her volleyball career. She’s been to one skills session and another evaluation session as the fourth graders at St. P’s get slotted onto the appropriate team for their first year of CYO play. I haven’t watched any of her…

  • Halloween Wrap Up

    Worst Halloween ever? As far as the weather was concerned, I think the answer was a resounding yes here in central Indiana. It was just a nasty night. It was cold, wet, windy, and miserable. Temps were in the mid–30s, the winds were gusting at close to 30 MPH, which made the steady rain come down sideways. There really was…

  • Joys Of Parenting -or- Serenity Now

    Way, way back I wrote, rather brilliantly I think, that being the parent of a two-year-old is a constant reminder that you are an utter failure. Those little beasts are just constantly challenging you, and often by the end of the day, you’re at your wits’ ends and barely clinging to your sanity. The bad thing is those trying moments…

  • Final Holiday Wrap Up

    Happy New Year! We woke to 4-5” of new snow on the ground, with even more predicted for Saturday night. The girls are excited. I’m excited I can finally get them outside of the house for awhile. With apologies to all the fans of Epiphany out there, the holiday season has officially ended. Yesterday we took our tree to the…

  • 365/0

    That’s what the family calendar on the refrigerator shows this morning. Three hundred sixty-five days down, zero to go. Which means, though the sun will rise in the morning and the normal work-week will continue (for some) on Thursday, today is still an end and tomorrow another beginning. 2013 was, for the most part, great for our family. Three big…

  • Holiday Weekend

    I woke up early this morning, for no real reason. I had been sleeping until 8:00, even 8:30, much of the past week. Something caused me to wake up shortly after 6:00 today, though, and after trying to fall back to sleep, I gave up. I went downstairs, made coffee, and enjoyed the silence of the morning with my current…