• Christmas 2013

    First, my obligatory annual statement about how fast Christmas flies by when you’re an adult. The time from final dismissal before Christmas break for the girls to about 9:30 last night, when the kids were all in bed, most of the clean-up was done, and we could just sit and relax seemed to pass in a blur. I think that’s…

  • Holiday Jihad #2

    Before some kid notes, another holiday jihad for you. Years ago I sent a Christmas card to the parents of a college buddy. I found out later I had misspelled his mother’s name – I thought her name was Lara but it was actually Lura – and I was horrified. I quickly apologized and she shook it off, saying I…

  • Holiday Tunes Links

    A couple articles about Christmas music to share. First, the Legend himself, Darryl McDaniels, aka DMC, talks about the surprising RUN-DMC holiday classic, “Christmas In Hollis.” I say surprising because an awful lot of people scoffed when it appeared on the first A Very Special Christmas album next to songs by Madonna, Springsteen, Mellencamp, U2, and Whitney. “That’s not Christmas…

  • Teeth And Programs

    Deep into the holiday season, are we. The DVR has gone from about 30% full to nearly 70% of capacity thanks to all the holiday shows we’ve recorded. The pantry is full of the dry ingredients for our annual Christmas cookies, which we’ll make soon. I’m beginning to run out of new places to put Elf on the Shelf each…

  • Fun With Lists

    There is a danger in completing your Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving: the kids change their minds. L. made a brand-new Christmas list yesterday. Luckily one thing on it is up in the attic, so she won’t be totally disappointed. I know many of you saw this last week, but it was absolutely worth making sure no one missed it. Enjoy Deadspin’s…

  • Seasonal Sounds

    The era of cheap and easy streaming music makes it easy for anyone to assemble a pretty nifty playlist for the holidays. However, you need to go beyond just your favorite songs. You need to dive into Christmas albums and build sets that can be spun for hours as the soundtrack for your parties, dinners, and Christmas morning celebrations. The…

  • Thanksgiving Wrap Up

    Mondays are for catching up. After a long holiday weekend there’s even more to share, so here we go. The girls had a long, five-day weekend. We could have used warmer weather as we really needed to shove them outside more. I’m not sure where they get all their energy. Or why they refuse to listen to us. Wednesday M.…

  • Busy Times

    A very busy few days. So let’s catch up quickly. Halloween was postponed a night in most of central Indiana thanks to some heavy rain and dangerous winds that rolled through Thursday. It actually wasn’t bad until most kids would have been inside, but I doubt walking through the rain would have been very much fun for anyone. Friday was…

  • Holiday Mania

    The girls are on high alert, as the holiday season officially begins this week. There is extra tension in the air this year, as the Indy area is expected to get hit with big storms tomorrow night, likely to include heavy rain, damaging winds, and lots of lightning. Several cities have already postponed trick-or-treating until Friday. Our city has not…

  • Add This To The List

    I’ll assume that people who are long time readers of the blog, and/or have known me for many years, have mental lists of my many odd traits. I’m not even going to jog your memories with a few examples. You know what you make fun of me for. Here’s one more you can add to your lists: Several times a…