Sing:

I've already admitted that I love, love, LOVE Christmas music. I've been listening to it since mid-November, and I'd listen to it for another month and a half if I could. But deep down, there's something... not quite right about some of these songs. Let's examine:



Baby, It's Cold Outside: Well this is the most obvious questionable holiday song: "Say, what's in this drink?" Yep, it's the official date-rape holiday song.



Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer: "All of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names..." So, this Christmas song is about bullying someone because of their unconventional looks, until the bullies need their help. Then they're just going to put all that bullying aside and guide that sleigh like nothing ever happened. Uh-huh.



There's No Place Like Home For the Holidays: Perry Cuomo is a little TOO happy about the traffic being "terrific." Nobody's ever that happy about holiday traffic, and terrific is probably the worst adjective ever to describe it.



Frosty the Snowman: Lawlessness, and global warming.



I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus: Uh, hey there, mom. I was sneaking around the house--when I was supposed to be sleeping--and I kind of caught you not only kissing Santa, but you were, uh, tickling him too. Somehow I don't think it would have been a "laugh" if daddy had seen.

So there you have it; Christmas songs, while on the surface are fun sing along songs, deep down they're pretty messed up. Have any others that I might have missed? Hit me up in the comments!

Holiday Monday: Believe:

2 out of my 3 children still very much believe in Santa--I know this because this weekend they were working their way towards the naughty list, and I made them write letters to Santa explaining that they were naughty. This activity did NOT go over well (alas, the letters have not been sent, but are there as a reminder to BE NICE TO YOUR SISTER). The teenager stopped believing long ago (sigh), and fortunately for us she never questioned the existence of Santa when she did believe. However, the other 2 might, and when they do, I am going to borrow heavily from this letter.

Santa is bigger than any person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived. What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to have belief in something they can’t see or touch.

Heck, I might just copy the entire thing. What a beautiful way to explain to your children the magic of Santa and Christmas.

Hopefully I won't need it for a long, long time.

Wait--Christmas is in HOW many days??

Answer me this, universe: how on EARTH is it Thursday already??! Wait, nevermind the fact that it's Thursday, let's discuss how it became Thursday, December 9! Just yesterday was October--am I right? Then--blink--there's a mere 16 days till Christmas; and I'm all, PANIC!

Let's see where I'm at:

Holiday cards: Check to the check. Unlike most people, I love, love, love sending (and receiving--but who doesn't love getting them?) cards. Mine are almost always ordered Thanksgiving weekend so I can get them out early on and say I actually accomplished something.

Presents: Oh, this is the season for GIVING? Like, as in presents?? Um, yeah. You can probably see where I am going with this. The children, for the most part, are done (and really, they're the ones who really count). Everyone else? Let's just say I'm VERY aware of all those ship-by-Christmas dates.

Baking: None. Zip. Zero. Zilch. I haven't baked a blessed thing yet this year. I enjoy baking, I find it very therapeutic. It's also something I love to do with the kids. However, now that both Mattio and I work from home, it's getting harder and harder to find people who want 17 different kinds of cookies. Maybe we'll just make a few of our favorite kinds--but at this point it's safe to say we're not going crazy.

Movie-watching: This is another big tradition in our house. We love the holiday movies--and usually snuggle up on the couch every Saturday night with a different holiday-themed movie to watch. This year is no exception--we've already seen Elf a number of times, a bizarre version of Rudolph via Netflix (which will be fixed this afternoon, as I just went and bought the REAL Rudolph on DVD), The Santa Claus, Frosty, Frosty Returns... And of course, Christmas Vacation (sans kids).

Decorating: Tree is up. Stockings hung. Advent calendar out and filled with candy. The end.

So I guess I'm not doing so bad after all... it certainly could be worse. Now if you'll excuse me, I have presents to order...

Kismet

OK, I have to confess: you know that stupid saying? About the shoemaker's kids having the worst shoes? Well, that applies to me sometimes (OK, bad analogy, I know. Cause I totally don't have the worst shoes).

I mean that I don't always have the time to make my own stuff pretty, because I'm too busy doing it for other people (but I'm not complaining!). So for the past few years, I've had business cards--nice, pretty business cards--but they weren't fancy schmancy professionally printed cards, they were digitally output and, quite frankly, the less than stellar printing quality showed (to the trained eye, at least).

So a few weeks ago, I was at Baker Graphics in Westport, picking up some invitations I designed, when the owner approached me. Long story short, we got to talking, and I gave her one of my cards, which just happened to say, "because her favorite color isn't orange, it's Pantone 167."

Well. It just so happened that they were printing business cards the next week, with Pantone 166. On top of that, the cards were the same off-size that mine were. Would I be interested in ganging up and getting some cards printed?

Does the shoemaker's kid have bad shoes?

So yesterday, I picked up my brand new, fancy schmancy, professionally printed cards. And let me tell you, it was like Christmas. I walked out of the printer's, and wanted to hand my card out to every person I came across.

Oh, and my new favorite color is Pantone 166--which is still orange, just a shade darker.