MamaBlogga

Whew! It’s been a bit crazy around here with holiday travel, Christmas (and last minute shopping) and my sister’s wedding.

When last we met, I asked you what you really want for Christmas. I was surprised (and quite excited!) that you responded! I guess I shouldn’t have been; I know that sometimes nobody asks moms what they want for Christmas.

It’s tough to choose, of course, but the best gift we got might be Hayden’s vacuum cleaner. Hours of fun for him (and at least a little bit of a break for me)! Too bad it doesn’t actually clean the floors; then my life might actually be perfect . (Is it strange for an almost-two-year-old boy to be quite obsessed with vacuum cleaners?)

So today is a bit of a follow-up question: What was the best thing that you got for Christmas?

What do you really want for Christmas? Aside from world peace, of course. For me, it’s two extra hours to myself a day.

But that’s not gonna happen, of course!

So what do you really hope to find under the tree?

I’m glad that a lot of people wrote about times of year other than Christmas for the Group Writing Project—it’s nice to be reminded of all the wonderful times we’ve each had this year. But I’m also glad that many people wrote about Christmas—because I’m having a rough time with Christmas this year.

After I spent many minutes in Costco looking for a specific gift for Ryan, I finally resorted to calling Ryan to ask him where exactly he’d seen this gift. While we’re on the phone, I get cut off, held up and extremely frustrated.

“I hate Christmas,” I told Ryan. “I don’t hate Jesus. I just hate Christmas.”

I told that to a leader at church tonight. He told me what he was getting his wife for Christmas—a bathroom remodel, already in progress. If you’ve ever remodeled or even thought about it, you probably know how often those unexpected, last minute, oops-the-tub-sticks-out-into-the-doorway adventures.

At least I don’t have to deal with that.

And next year I’m shopping online.

There are some beautiful songs that celebrate the Christmas season out there. They celebrate the birth of our Lord, the time we get to spend together as families during this holiday season and the beautiful, universal themes of peace on Earth, good will to man.

And then there are all those other songs. Some of them are fun to sing, some of them are really obnoxious. Some of them make you want to scream.

And some of them just don’t make any sense. Here’s my favorite example of a line from a Christmas song that makes no sense whatsoever, in or out of context:

Christmas comes this time each year.

Um, yeah. . . . And Thursday comes this time each week. Thanks for the lesson immemorial about . . . the calendar.

What’s your favorite dumb line from a Christmas song?

I have no idea where this recipe came from, but it’s a great new twist on “crisped rice desserts” (because I’ll bet the term “Rice Krispie Treats” is trademarked. . . . Oh crap.).

Anyway, it was a recipe that my mother had us make, oh, probably 10+ years ago, back when we did crafts/treatmaking each night in December. This was one of the first treats we made.

Ingredients
Marshmallows (big ones, not teeny ones)
Caramels (unwrapped)
Crisped rice cereal

Directions
Melt the caramels in a saucepan (or, if you want to use the microwave, a bowl will do). Pour the crisped rice cereal into a shallow dish or bowl. Place a sheet of waxed paper next to that bowl. Once the caramels are good and melty (don’t you just love the precision of this recipe?), dip one end of the marshmallow first into the caramels, then into the crisped rice cereal, then place it on the
waxed paper to cool. Repeat until you run out of something.

I don’t have any pictures of these, but at right is a picture from a similar (but much more involved) recipe from AllRecipes.com. The picture has added food dye to the caramel.

I also think these would be good if, after dipping in the crisped rice cereal, you dipped them in chocolate. Or before. Or instead of the caramel. Chocolate…..

Part of Scribbit’s Winter Bazaar and

The prompt for the second Letters to my Daughters Group Writing Project is “ten rules to live by.”

Now, obviously, there are already ten rules to live by (you might recall the ‘thou shalt not’ language, yes?). But here are a few things that I’ve picked up in my rather short life. Following them, like following the commandments, has definitely made my life easier!

1. Believe. Believe something. Believe in God. Believe in yourself.

2. Be honest. Be honest with yourself. Be honest with your spouse. Be honest in your dealings with your fellow man. At the very least, it’s a lot easier to keep your story straight. Plus, when your kids lie to you, you can point to your honest example to show them that it’s wrong.

3. Don’t sweat the small stuff. I’m terrible at this. But when I remember this rule, I don’t yell at Hayden for throwing bubbles on the floor. It’s really not that important.

4. Love. Love everything and everybody in the whole world, only he never let on so . . . oh, sorry, that’s Oklahoma. Love is really a key to happiness. Love God, love your family and love what you do for a living. What else could it take to make someone happy?

5. Let go. This is hard, but it’s definitely the most healthy.

6. Talk things out/Fight fair. The best way to do this is not to get upset and yell, but even if you can’t do that (I often can’t keep myself from at least getting upset), don’t bring up settled (or unsettled) issues from the past in an argument. If something is bothering you, gently and in a non-accusatory way, bring it up with the person who upset you.

7. Think ahead. The time to tell your children the rules (and impose their consequences) is not after they break them. Decide with your spouse what the rules are, tell them to your children. (In the rule of law, this is called publicity—telling people about the laws. It also has to do with prospectivity—you can’t punish people for actions they made before a law was passed.)

8. Make your expectations reasonable and clear. Not just for your children, either. This was the first piece of advice I gave one of my college roommates when she got married. Tell your husband what you expect of him and odds are a lot lower that he’ll disappoint you.

9. Impose (and accept) consequences. Be consistent in discipline, whatever style of discipline you use. And when you get a speeding ticket, accept the consequences. Call speeding civil disobedience if you want, but an important part of that is willingly accepting the consequences.

10. Spend time together. Spend time with your family and your friends. Eat dinner together as a family as often as you can.

What rules do you live by? (And hurry if you want to participate in the GWP; the deadline is tomorrow!)